Driving along Highway 64 from Murphy to Manteo, you can experience the state’s geographical diversity and in so doing hear distinctive, regional North Carolina accents in the mountains, the Piedmont, and eastern North Carolina. Along the way you also can eat barbecue that in one region is taken from the shoulder and another from the whole hog, the meat flavored with different sauces that reveal the state’s regional diversity and history.
North Carolina is not unusual in this regard. Traveling across the South, visitors will encounter barbecue subcultures and preferences for different sauces. As a child growing up in the Piedmont, I thought Lexington-style was the definition of barbecue. All others were foreign to me. Ever wondered why, in South Carolina from Columbia to Charleston, barbecue is served with a mustard-based sauce? Many argue that preference derives from the culinary influence brought by the German immigrants who arrived in the region nearly 300 years ago.
Regionalism is not as pronounced as it was in past decades. In great part, technology makes it possible for many, in North Carolina or elsewhere, to listen to the same songs or watch the same television shows. Most hear the standard, flat delivery of broadcast news anchors, no matter where they live or what channel they hear or watch. Many drive the same cars or wear the same brands of clothing because they have been influenced by the same commercials whether the advertisements appeared on the radio, on television, or online.
As more people experience information and entertainment online, however, the personalization embedded in online applications that foster a sense of individualism may chip away at American homogeneity. Instead of being of a nation of regions with individuals, where people’s lives were affected in great part by the land and weather, America may be becoming a nation of formal and informal associations of individuals influenced by increasing and widespread technology.
At any rate, regionalism was far more robust in early North Carolina than today. In the so-called Regulator Rebellion, Piedmont farmers criticized the royal government in New Bern and later clashed with militia, mainly from eastern North Carolina at the Battle of Alamance. In short, “backcountry” Piedmont farmers were at odds with eastern North Carolina gentry and royal government officials.
The religious components of the Regulator Rebellion reveal a schism among denominations. Regulator leader Herman Husband was a Quaker, and his political ally Shubal Stearns was a Baptist. In a pamphlet citing Nehemiah 5, Husband questioned what he deemed a government that overstepped the boundaries placed on authority and encroached on liberty. Citing passages from Job and Jeremiah, the Anglican George Mickeljohn, however, condemned the Hillsborough Riot of 1768 and reminded his congregation that “every soul [is] subject to the higher powers.” Many back in eastern North Carolina agreed. Royal Governor William Tryon was so pleased with Mickeljohn’s sermon near Hillsborough that it was published and copies were sent to England.
The efforts of Anglican missionary Charles Woodmason also reveal a religious regionalism during the mid-1700s. He claimed to have traveled approximately 6,000 miles to stop the spread of New Light and less formal practices primarily among Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers. He believed religious splintering led to chaos and perpetual infighting. Even so, he noted that these various denominations increasingly noted three common foes: the landed gentry, the Anglican Church, and the royal government — all holding their greatest influence in eastern North Carolina.
Although regionalism is not as pronounced as it has been — and as the state’s population grows, newcomers may affect local cultures — in some fashion North Carolina regionalism will remain and influence the state’s future.
Dr. Troy Kickler is director of the North Carolina History Project (northcarolinahistory.org).