National parks in North Carolina

: Black & white patterned tower of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse stands against a blue & white cloud f

100ESSENTIAL NPS photo

National Seashore · NC

Cape Lookout National Seashore

Cape Lookout is not a drive-up seashore.

A long pine tree stands in front of distant mountain ridges beneath an orange sunset

98ESSENTIAL Harold Blackwood Photo

Parkway · NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

At 469 free miles threading through the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia and North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway is less a destination than a spine connecting dozens of them.

The first-order Fresnel lens is visible in the lantern room of the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

97ESSENTIAL NPS Photo

National Seashore · NC

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Cape Hatteras is one of the most activity-rich stretches of protected coastline in the country, and the fact that it costs nothing to enter makes it almost absurdly good value.

Silhouette of a man with backpack standing on McAfee Knob at sunset with mountains in the distance.

95ESSENTIAL Photo Credit: ATC/Benjamin Hays

National Scenic Trail · CT

Appalachian National Scenic Trail

Over 2,190 miles connecting Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail is less a single destination than a lifetime of options.

Wisps of fog hang over the forests in the mountains.

84EXCELLENT Kristina Plaas

National Park · NC

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The most visited national park in the country earns that title honestly.

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National Historic Trail · NC

Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

This 330-mile, four-state trail retraces the 1780 Patriot militia march that ended at Kings Mountain, one of the Revolution's turning-point battles.

Bronze and granite monument of General Nathanael Greene on horseback

74EXCELLENT NPS Photo

National Military Park · NC

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Guilford Courthouse punches well above its modest footprint.

Cannon on a hill on a winter day. American flag to the left of the cannon

74EXCELLENT NPS Photo

National Battlefield · NC

Moores Creek National Battlefield

Moores Creek punches above its size.

large white house, green lawn, two trees in front

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National Historic Trail · AL

Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail

This is not a park you visit in a single afternoon but a 9-state corridor of conscience stretching from the Cherokee homelands of the Southeast to Oklahoma.

Back of the monument commemorating the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony

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National Historic Site · NC

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

Fort Raleigh is a compact, genuinely fascinating historic site built around one of American history's most enduring mysteries: the Lost Colony of the 1580s.

Orville takes to the air in the flyer for the first time as Wilbur assists.

44NICHE Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, and John Daniels

National Memorial · NC

Wright Brothers National Memorial

This is a small but genuinely moving site where the Wright Brothers actually flew, not just a place that talks about them.

A view of the Sandburg Home as visitors enter the park

42NICHE NPS Photo

National Historic Site · NC

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

Carl Sandburg Home is a quiet literary pilgrimage site in the Blue Ridge foothills of North Carolina, where the poet and Lincoln biographer spent the last 22 years of his life.