I have been pondering how the NC Science Trail should approach the America 250 celebrations, and I believe the upcoming Semiquincentennial should remind people that America’s story is not just one of battles and politics—it’s also a story of observation, experimentation, engineering, and innovation. The people who settled and built North Carolina may not have called themselves scientists, but they were applying chemistry, physics, biology, geology, hydrology, and ecology every day. Those discoveries shaped our communities and eventually laid the foundation for the research institutions and technology industries that define North Carolina today.
As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, we’re reminded that the story of America is also the story of science. Long before laboratories and research parks, scientific thinking was helping shape communities across North Carolina. Every decision—from where to build a town to how to harvest natural resources—depended on careful observation, experimentation, and an understanding of the natural world, not to mention tremendous tenacity. The technologies of the 1700s may seem simple today in the age of AI, but they represented the cutting edge of science for their time.
Across North Carolina, many of the places we now preserve as parks, historic sites, and museums tell this remarkable story. Along the Coastal Plain, workers learned that longleaf pines produced valuable resin that could be distilled into tar, pitch, and turpentine—essential materials used to waterproof ships and rigging during the Revolutionary War and for generations afterward. This chemistry earned North Carolina the nickname “The Tar Heel State.” In the Piedmont, communities flourished around millponds where engineers harnessed the power of flowing water to grind grain, saw lumber, and support local economies. Farmers studied soils and seasons, blacksmiths mastered the properties of metals, potters refined clay through heat and chemistry, and shipbuilders combined mathematics, physics, and craftsmanship to construct vessels capable of crossing oceans.
Many of these stories can still be experienced through our North Carolina Science Trail partners. State parks protect longleaf pine ecosystems that once supplied naval stores. Historic sites preserve working mills that demonstrate the engineering behind water-powered communities. Museums showcase the tools, technologies, and innovations that transformed natural resources into thriving industries. Together, these sites remind us that science has always been woven into North Carolina’s history—not as a separate discipline, but as an essential part of everyday life.
Today, I am proud that North Carolina continues that tradition as a leader in research, medicine, agriculture, environmental science, and technology. The curiosity and ingenuity that helped early North Carolinians solve practical problems have evolved into world-class universities, research institutions, and innovative industries. As we celebrate 250 years of our nation’s history, we also celebrate the generations of scientific discovery that helped build the North Carolina we know today—and continue to inspire the discoveries of tomorrow.
