North Carolina [antikvár]

For centuries, people have been dreaming about flight. Engineers designed gliders as early as the 1700s and with each century, their knowledge grew slightly more advanced. Yet no one achieved sustained, controlled flight. That is, until two bicycle shop owners, Wilbur and Orville Wright, tackled the problem in the 1890s. These self-taught engineers studied aeronautics, wrote away for research materials, and began building and testing their own models.On December 17, 1903, their efforts paid off and they launched their flyer into the air above Kitty Hawk. In 1904 they flew more than 100 times, practicing their skills and refining their glider. By 1910, the brothers could fly for two hours at a time, soaring an unprecedented 360 feet over the beaches of North Carolina. The technology they developed is the same as that which lifts intercontinental jets into the air today.The Wright Brothers National Memorial is just one of the unique attractions of North Carolina. The state's two largest cities, Charlotte and Raleigh, are both bustling, cosmopolitan centers with a wealth of business opportunities, visitor attractions, and cultural events. Across the state, historic sitesfrom the battleship North Carolina to Old Salemdraw visitors into the past, while places such as the Morehead Planetarium in Charlotte and the Cradle of Forestry in the Pisgah National Forest encourage guests to look to the future.More than 7 million people live in the state, and thousands more visit each year. Some are drawn by the 6,000-foot peaks of the Great Smoky Mountain; others wander the 300 miles of sandy beaches on the Outer Banks, tour the gentle hills of the Piedmont region, or sail the rolling waves of the Atlantic. In any of these regions, it's easy to see why the first flights might have taken place here in North Carolina. Its hospitable people, fascinating places, and unparalleled vistas encourage the imagination to take wing.