In 1585 and 1587, the first groups of English settlers
established colonies on Roanoke Island, located North Carolina's
coast. The first group returned to England and the second group,
known as the "Lost Colony," mysteriously disappeared. Virginia
Dare, the first baby born to English parents in America, was one
of the people who vanished. North Carolina was the 12th of the
13 original colonies to join the Union, but one of the last
Southern states to secede from it during the Civil War. The
first state university was established in North Carolina in
1795. Cape Hatteras National Seashore was the first national
seashore in the United States. So many shipwrecks occurred at
Cape Hatteras that the cape is called the "Graveyard of the
Atlantic." The state's shores are some of the most dangerous in
the world because of islands, reefs, and sandbars. The first
successful flight occurred at Kitty Hawk. Wilbur and Orville
Wright built and flew the first successful airplane, Flyer 1 for
12 seconds in 1903. North Carolina