Which Came First Scotland or North Carolina?
Saturday, July 25th, 2009Most people would expect to find that Scotland had the largest number of Scots but they would be wrong. In reality the state of North Carolina USA has more people of Scottish descent than does 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.
This area still has close connections with the home country of Scotland and many would say that the town of Laurinburg, North Carolina for example is as Scottish as any town on the Scottish Mainland. Did you know that :
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 has a marching band who all wear the Royal Stewart Tartan. And of course they have a prize winning bagpipe band wearing the full kilt.
Their high school football, baseball and the basketball team are all called the “Fighting Scots”. I hope the football team don’t get confused and turn at a basketball team venue thinking they are playing.
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.
Feeling hungry? Visit the local fast food company called Scottish Foods using a Scottish bagpiper as its main logo.
“Scotland Crossing” is the main shopping center for people in the town. The centre uses a red lion on a yellow background as its main central feature. Officially this is a breach of Scottish law as only the Scottish monarch can use this Rampart Lion but we do normally turn a blind eye to it even here in the real Scotland.
The Square Dance Club is the Scottish Twirlers.
Remember the large two handed sword on the highlander statue at the college well there is also a local 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?
Did you know you could increase your Scottish ness by becoming a landowner on the isle of Jura and become a Scottish Royal? It makes an unique gift idea for anyone with or without an existing Scottish connection.
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