Miss N.C. wins talent portion

Congrats to Harnett County native and N.C. State graduate Adrienne Core, who won the talent portion of the Miss America competition on Wednesday night.

The Miss America pageant is Saturday in Las Vegas.

'Peak of Good Living' .... 'City of Oaks' ... 'Clogging Capital of the World' and other N.C. nicknames

You gotta love Wikipedia. Wanna know the GPS coordinates of Schuyler, Nebraska? No problem. Ever wondered who was the first person to swim the English Channel? Bingo. Wanna know how fireflies produce light? You got it.

And if you want to know what are the nicknames of North Carolina places, then you can (kinda-sorta) find that too. Of course, it being Wikipedia and all, some of the ones listed are possibly incorrect or just plain not something the local Chamber of Commerce is likely to promote. (Ex: "Torture City" or "Fayettenam" for Fayetteville.)

But it's still neat to see a repository of some of these nicknames. For instance, most people know that North Carolina has two places known as the "Paris of ..." Asheville is the "Paris of the South" (not listed by Wikipedia, by the way), while Carrboro is the "Paris of the Piedmont."

Speaking of fireflies, I had no idea that Boone was the "Firefly Capital of the World." Other "Capitals" include Calabash ("Seafood Capital of the World"), Chadbourn ("Strawberry Capital of the World"), Erwin ("Denim Capital of the World"), High Point ("Furniture Capital of the World"), Maggie Valley ("Clogging Capital of the World") and Pinehurst ("Golf Capital of the World").

Of course flora and fauna play into some of the nicknames as well: Brevard ("Home of the white squirrels"), Fayetteville ("City of Dogwoods") and Raleigh ("City of Oaks").

As with the aforementioned "Fayettenam," there are several "unofficial" nicknames out there: Cary ("Conentrated Area of Relocated Yankees") and Greenville ("G-Vegas" -- or the cynical "G-Wilson" and "The Emerald City") come to mind.

Other place nicknames include:

Apex - Peak of Good Living
Brevard - Land of Waterfalls
Chapel Hill - The Southern Part of Heaven
Charlotte - the Queen City
Durham - City of Medicine
Fayetteville - All-America City; Tar Heel Town
Greensboro - The Gate City
Hendersonville - City of Four Seasons
Kannapolis - City of Looms
Raleigh - Raleighwood
Thomasville - Chair City
Winston-Salem - Twin City
Wilmington - The Hollywood of the East

What are some other place nicknames that we've left off?

(Image from drivehq.com)