Scotland in North Carolina
Did you know that there are more people living in North Carolina USA who boast Scottish descent than there are Scots living in Scotland?
After the highland clearances where the major landowners evicted several thousand crofters (small-holders) large number of Scots made their way by boat to the new American settlements. One party of nearly 2,000 Scots from the Isle of Jura and surrounding area settled in North Carolina. You could read more about that on the Laird of Jura website.
Some parts of North Carolina even today could still be confused with parts of Scotland. Here are some of the similarities:
The town of Laurinberg is situated in the state county of “Scotland”.
The town high school is of course called “Scotland High School”. And to go with that the School song is the national anthem of Scotland “Scotland the Brave”.
The school traditional marching band wear kilts in the Royal Stewart Tartan. But they also have a Scottish bagpipe band which has won a number of prizes in recent years for their music.
The school Football, Baseball and the Basketball teams are called the “Fighting Scots”. (Did you know that the game of Basketball was invented by a Scottish American who was charged with finding some sports activity for youths to play indoors during bad weather? Its true!)
The local college is St Andrews Presbyterian College (St Andrew is of course the patron saint of Scotland) has a huge bronze statue of a highlander in native dress waving a Claymore sword.
The College is also home to the Scottish Heritage Centre.
The main local fast food company called Scottish Foods has a Highland Piper as its logo.
The area even has a soccer team called the Scottish Claymores.
As we might expect there are a large number of local streets named after places such as Argyllshire, Kintyre and Skye where the first Scottish settlers lived before coming to North Carolina.
Do you know any other place which is more Scottish than this town in North Carolina?
Want to become a Scottish Lord or Lady? Its easy enough and can be the ideal unique gift idea for anyone whether they have a Scottish connection or not.