First came 1585 English attempt to establish the Roanoke settlement North Carolina territory. This settlement was abandoned; then came a second attempt in 1586 which also soon failed.
     The first permanent settlement in North Carolina territory was establish in 1653 when settlers from Virginia occupied a section north of Albemarle Sound. In 1655, the King’s charter for the Proprietorship of Carolina in effect gave Carolina the land that was to later become South and North Carolina and Tennessee. The Charter specified Carolina’s boundary as: “. . . All that Province, Territory, or Tract of ground, situate, lying, and being within our Dominions of America aforesaid, extending North and Eastward as far as the North end of Carahtuke River or Gullet; upon a straight Westerly line to Wyonoake Creek, which lies within or about the degrees of thirty six and thirty Minutes [36° 30'], Northern latitude, and so West in a direct line as far as the South Seas; and South and Westward as far as the degrees of twenty nine, inclusive, northern latitude; and so West in a direct line as far as the South Seas . . .”
     After 1691, the province was called North Carolina, but administered by South Carolina until 1711.
     Before the Revolution, the Church of England was the established church in North Carolina.
     After the end of the Revolutionary War, the province of North Carolina became our twelfth state (1789).