Carolina! Carolina! heaven’s blessings attend her,
While we live, we will cherish, protect and defend her,
Tho’ the scorner may sneer at and witlings defame her,
Still our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her.
Hurrah! Hurrah! the Old North State forever,
Hurrah! Hurrah! the good Old North State.
– The Old North State by Judge William Gaston
In 1710 – the same year New Bern was founded – the province of Carolina was divided in two. It was only logical that the upper portion would be called North Carolina and the bottom part would be known forevermore as … well, you can figure that out.
Somewhere along the line, our part acquired the nickname “The Old North State.” Joseph Seawell Jones was the first writer to say it in print in an 1834 history about North Carolina in the American Revolution. “Shocco” Jones had been offended by some shade cast upon the state by Thomas Jefferson. In reaction, he wrote a 368-page tome called (take a deep breath) Defence of the Revolutionary History of the State of North Carolina from the Aspersions of Mr. Jefferson. In it, the author highlighted the Regulator Movement and the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
Inspired by Mr. Jones and picking up on some of his sentiments, Judge William Gaston composed his Old North State song the following year. The story is told that the New Bernian, Gaston – who was then serving in the North Carolina Supreme Court – penned his ditty to the melody of a song he heard during a Swiss bell-ringing group’s performance in Raleigh.
NCpedia says Gaston’s creation was first performed at a big Whig Party rally in 1840 and was published in 1851. It was quite popular in its day and has been sung ever since. The N.C. legislature officially adopted it as the state song in 1927.
Here around Independence Day, if perchance you don’t have the song on the tip of your tongue, several renditions are available for your listening pleasure on YouTube.
by Edward Ellis, Special Correspondent
Eddie Ellis is the author of New Bern History 101 and other works about Craven County’s rich heritage. He can be reached at flexspace2@aol.com.