By CLARA CARTRETTE

What do you know about North Carolina?

I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about our state until I started thumbing through a book titled “Amazing North Carolina,” with a subtitle of Fascinating Facts, Entertaining Tales, Bizarre Happenings, and Historical Oddities about the Tar Heel State.

We can thank a North Carolinian for “saving” the Father of our Country. When the British were attacking Washington, D.C. in 1814, and hearing that they were bent on burning President James Madison’s home, the president’s wife Dolley gathered what she could as the prepared to flee the city.

Born Dorothea Payne from Guilford County, Dolley saw that one thing in the house could never be replaced: a large portrait of George Washington. With no time to unscrew the painting from the wall she ordered that the splendid frame be broken and the canvas removed. The Redcoats arrived minutes after her evacuation and left only the charred shell of the executive mansion. The painting Dolley Madison saved is in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

Dolley dazzled Washington with her stylish clothes and brilliant manner of entertaining. She was official White House hostess for 16 years, assuming the duties of First Lady for the widowed Thomas Jefferson, and continuing during the eight years her husband was in office.

Among the famous North Carolinians are famed sports reporter Howard Cosell, TV newsmen Edward R. Murrow, David Brinkley and Charles Kuralt, comedian Soupy Sales, Whistler’s Mother (Anna McNeill of Clarkton), made famous by her son James Whistler in his painting, and movie star Ava Gardner (Smithfield). Walt Disney was fired from an Asheville construction company in 1924 for doodling on subdivision plats that are now displayed in the Buncombe County Courthouse.

Columbus County has its own celebrity mentioned in the book. Country singer Stonewall Jackson, best known for the hit song “Waterloo,” was born in the Tabor City area and his nickname goes back to the Civil War. Other Tar Heel musicians include Doc Watson, James Taylor, Crash Craddock, Kate Smith, Earl Scruggs, Ronnie Milsap, Charlie Daniels and Roberta Flack.

The original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, were from Mt. Airy. North Carolina was the nation’s biggest source of gold before the California gold rush.

Raleigh was not even a town before it became the state capital. The capital had been in Edenton, Bath, Wilmington, New Bern, Hillsborough, Halifax, Tarboro and Fayetteville before Raleigh became the permanent capital in 1792. The state wanted a central location and chose Wake County, but the exact area chosen was probably decided on Joel Lane’s “hospitality.” Two site committee votes taken on a Thursday had no clear majority so they adjourned to vote again the next day. This is when Lane worked his magic.

Oral tradition holds that he entertained guests with a bountiful table and free-flowing spirits such as Cherry Bounce, a sort of cherry cordial and whiskey concoction. Next morning when the guests’ collective fog lifted, they offered to buy a thousand acres from Lane for the site of the new capital. It was named Raleigh in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh, the English explorer whose exploits led to the colonization of North Carolina in the 17th century.

Lane’s home has been preserved and is open for tours led by costumed docents, who will tell you a recipe for Cherry Bounce: 4 quarts cherries, drained, 2 quarts water and 1 quart of the best whiskey or brandy. Stir, let sit overnight, stir again and pour into a stone jar, seal edges with cloth dipped in paraffin and let stand for 6 weeks, squeeze out juices, strain and filter.

Though born in England, Elizabeth Blackwell decided to pursue a medical profession when she was a teacher in Asheville. The brother of her friend John Dickinson tutored her in the healing arts for free in Charleston, S.C., then she applied to medical schools at Harvard, Yale and Bowdoin. All rejected her, but after applying to 30 institutions she was finally accepted at Geneva Medical School in New York, now a part of Syracuse.

As the only female, she was snubbed by students and some professors turned her away from anatomy classes. Despite this she graduated in January 1849 with the highest honors in her class, becoming the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree. Turned away from clinics and hospitals, she went on to study obstetrics in Paris, then undertook further medical studies in London.

She returned to New York, and despite opposition and lack of funds, she helped found the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857 and the first Women’s Medical College in 1868. Throughout her life she was active in the struggle for women’s rights. By means of her stubbornness, vision and perseverance, she opened the way for women to enter the world of medicine.

North Carolina came close to electing a president in 1824. Andrew Jackson won the most popular and electoral votes over William Crawford of Georgia, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts and Henry Clay of Kentucky, but lacked the majority of electoral votes mandated by the Constitution.

The decision went to the House of Representatives who chose Adams. When Adams appointed Clay as the new secretary of state the Tar Heel candidate suspected that the two had struck a deal to “rig” the election. Four years of bitter accusations followed but Jackson became president in 1828. The rift helped lead to the dual-party system with Jackson, John C. Calhoun and Martin Van Buren forming the Democrat party and Adams and Clay referred to as National Republicans.

“Hail to the Chief” was first played at the inauguration of Martin Van Buren in 1837, but it was Sarah Childress Polk who was responsible for the tune being played every time the president enters a room. She started during the presidency of her husband, North Carolina-born (Pineville) James K. Polk, who took office in 1844. Polk was only 5 feet 6 inches tall and often went unnoticed. This annoyed Sarah and she had the White House band play “Hail to the Chief” so everyone would take note of her husband’s entry. Every president since, vertically challenged or not, has continued this musical tradition.

How many miles of rivers and streams lie within North Carolina’s borders? About 40,000. Pepsi Cola and Krispy Kreme doughnuts got their start in the Tar Heel state.

Who’s buried on Grandfather Mountain? Mildred, the famous black bear that was brought from the Atlanta Zoo and spent her life roaming the mountain and replenishing the black bear population. Contrary to usual bear habits, she adopted abandoned cubs. Mildred was nationally famous, appearing in National Geographic, Outdoor life, Northwoods and U.S. Forest Service publications.

Was Abe Lincoln born in North Carolina? Some in Rutherford County insist that he was born in Bostic. In the latter part of the 18th century Lucy Hanks made her living spinning for local families and she had two daughters, Mandy and Nancy. Unable to provide for them, she put them in the care of local families. Nancy was placed with a farmer-teacher named Abraham Enloe and his wife. Not long after the turn of the century the Enloes moved to a farm near the banks of the Oconaluftee River. Unbeknownst to everyone Nancy was in the family way. When it became apparent, Enloe’s wife was upset.

Nancy disappeared a few months and returned with a newborn boy. Enloe made an offer to an itinerant laborer, Tom Lincoln: take a team of horses with all the accoutrements, some money, Nancy and her son; marry her and move to Kentucky.

Although history books claim that Abe Lincoln was born near Hodgenville, Ky., Rutherford countians say Abe was born on their soil and was named after his birth father, Abraham Enloe. People who lived in Rutherford County around 1809 (when Abe was born) swore that Nancy returned to the old Enloe place to give birth and they had seen her with her baby. The story was further borne out by J.C. Coggins, a Rutherford-based legislator and teacher who in 1920 wrote a book, “Abraham Lincoln: A North Carolinian with Proof.”

In 2000 the Historical Society of Rutherford County erected a granite plaque at the intersection of Walker Mill Road and Bostic “Sunshine” Highway (N.C. 106). The plaque reads: traditional birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, one mile east.”

North Carolina was the first of the 13 original colonies to vote for independence from England, and became the first colony to declare its complete independence from Britain in 1776 in the document entitled the Halifax Resolves, drawn up after the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.

And lastly, why are people of the Old North State called Tar Heels? Here are two of the most convincing stories:

Principal products during the state’s early days — turpentine, pitch and tar — came from the great numbers of pine trees and workers got the sticky substances on the soles of their shoes. The second story is more entertaining. Legend holds that during the Civil War the fiercest fighters hailed from North Carolina. In one battle, Union forces drove back the forces supporting the North Carolina troops, but the North Carolina soldiers stood their ground. When Gen. Robert E. Lee heard of what had happened, and that the North Carolina soldiers had held fast as though they had “tar on their heels,” Lee is said to have commented, “God bless the Tar Heel boys.

“Amazing North Carolina” was written by Teresa Jensen Lacey and published in 2003 by Rutledge Hill Press in Nashville, Tenn. It will provide an entertaining and educational rainy Sunday afternoon.