North Carolina’s Three Regions in Three Minutes

North Carolina stretches from the mountains in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east. Geographers often split the state into three regions.

• The Mountains. The far west of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Think cool air, thick forests and waterfalls.
• The Piedmont. The word means “foot of the mountain.” This is the rolling middle of the state, between the mountains and the coast.
• The Coastal Plain. The land in the east is low and flat. It ends at the Atlantic Ocean and a chain of barrier islands called the Outer Banks.

Three things to look for:

1. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on the Outer Banks is the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States. The National Park Service lists its height as about 193 feet from the ground to the peak.
2. The Venus flytrap grows naturally in only a small area around Wilmington, mostly in North Carolina. Its trap closes only when two tiny hairs inside are touched within a few seconds of each other.
3. The Wright brothers made the first powered airplane flights in 1903 near Kitty Hawk, on the coast.

Want more? Explore all three regions with Scout the Fox in North Carolina Explorer. You can also try our free North Carolina word search and lighthouse coloring page.