NORTH CAROLINA
Find your "first" in North Carolina -- you never have to travel far to experience it. Whether you’re watching the sun rise and set from the same spot on a barrier-island beach, listening to the sound of waterfalls echoing all around you, driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville, enjoying a romantic escape in Charlotte, exploring a Coastal town or walking the beach, the beauty of North Carolina is yours to enjoy.
Clingman's Dome
Clingmans Dome is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, in the southeastern United States. At an elevation of 6,643 feet, it is the highest mountain in the Smokies, the highest point in the state of Tennessee, and the highest point along the 2,192-mile Appalachian Trail. It is also the third highest point in mainland Eastern North America, after the nearby Mount Mitchell and Mount Craig.
Chimney Rock State Park
Chimney Rock State Park is a North Carolina state park in Chimney Rock, Rutherford County, North Carolina in the United States. The 6,956-acre park is located 25 miles southeast of Asheville, North Carolina, and is owned by the state of North Carolina. It has hiking trails for all skill levels, views of the Devil's Head balancing rock and a 404-foot waterfall, Hickory Nut Falls. Its most notable feature is a 315-foot rock formation, a granite monolith, Chimney Rock, accessible by elevator and providing views of the park and surrounding countryside.
Biltmore
Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 square feet of floor space. Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions.
North Carolina Museum of Art
The North Carolina Museum of Art is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that established its collection, the Museum has continued to be a model of enlightened public policy with free admission to the permanent collection. Today, it encompasses a collection that spans more than 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present, an amphitheater for outdoor performances, and a variety of celebrated exhibitions and public programs. The Museum features over 40 galleries as well as more than a dozen major works of art in the nation's largest museum park with 164-acres. One of the leading art museums in the American South, the NCMA recently completed a major expansion winning international acclaim for innovative approaches to energy-efficient design.
Pullen Park
Pullen Park is a 66.4-acre public park immediately west of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is located on Ashe Avenue and is adjacent to the Main and Centennial campuses of North Carolina State University...covering an area between Western Boulevard and historic Hillsborough Street. Founded in 1887, Pullen Park is the oldest public park in North Carolina. The park features picnic areas, a concessions stand along with several small rides including the Pullen Park Carousel, train, and kiddie boats. Pedal boats are also available for rent seasonally on the park's small lake. The Pullen Aquatic Center, Pullen Arts Center and Theatre in the Park are also located on the park grounds. It is one of the most famous and well-known parks in the Research Triangle region. The East Coast Greenway, a 3,000 mile long system of trails connecting Maine to Florida, runs through Pullen Park.
