NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina is the largest producer of sweet potatoes in the U.S.
1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes were produced in the U.S. in 2003. North Carolina (588 million pounds) produced more than any other state. It was followed by Louisiana and California (each with about 310 million pounds), and Mississippi (238 million pounds).
US Census Bureau, October 2004
Pepsi-Cola was created in 1898 by Caleb D. Bradham, a New Bern, North Carolina pharmacist.
North Carolina adopted milk as its official state beverage in 1987.
An estimated 263 million turkeys were raised in the United States in 2004. That's down 4 percent from 2003. Minnesota raised 46.5 million turkeys, followed by North Carolina with 39 million.
US Census Bureau, October 2004
According to the USDA, Iowa had a total of 15.5 million market hogs and pigs as of March 1, 2007, which is 1/4 of the nation's total. North Carolina (8.4 million) and Minnesota (6.2 million) were second and third.
Lexington, North Carolina, is known as the Barbecue Capital of the World, and October was officially declared 'Barbecue Month' with a month long Annual Barbecue Festival. The Festival has a Parade of Pigs on bicycles (also called the Tour de Pig)!
If you didn't already guess, Lexington is famous for its barbecue. The city's first barbecue restaurant opened in 1919. Lexington barbecue is pork shoulder basted with 'dip,' a mixture of water, vinegar, salt, and pepper. It is cooked slowly over hickory wood until it is 'fall apart tender.' One pound of pork takes about an hour to cook. Today there are over 20 barbecue restaurants in Lexington.
In the 1994 Barbecue Festival, 11,000 pounds of barbecue were served to more than 100,000 people.
Library of Congress Local Legacies Project
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