#NorthState February 12

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Earlier this week while chatting with my Dermatologist as she performed some biopsies, she made a revelation to me. She was attempting to memorize various poems including The Old NORTH STATE.

Sharing that fact led me to tell her about the 30-Day Poetry Coach4aday Challenge. She got excited and started reciting some of the lines from the 1904 poem.

History of The Old NORTH STATE Poem

This poem is actually recognized as North Carolina’s State Toast. North Carolina is the only state in the union that actually has a state toast. It took some time for the poem to gain that title. It was written in 1904 by Leonora Monteiro Martin and it wasn’t until it was put to music in 1957 that the NC General Assembly acted on it.

Researching this poem, I located a great historical link on the NCPedia website. Here is a link to the history of the poem and how it became the recognized by North Carolinians.