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After you've had time to research the questions below, send your answers to Bill Ethridge at:  kwdeee@carolina.rr.com
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Since the early 1500s, several language dialects have been in use in North Carolina.  One is associated to the coastal and piedmont section called the "Lower Southern".  it has been described by some as the "plantation dialect".  The second is a dialect from the mountain region of North Carolina.  It was brought to this region by the Scotch-Irish and German settlers.  This group of people migrated primarily from Pennsylvania.  The dialect is known as the "Upper Southern".  The third dialect is known as "Ebonics".  This dialect was developed and spoken by the African-American community.

in addition to these three dialects, there is a fourth dialect not as well known.  It is spoken by the settlers on Ocracoke and Harker's Island.  The people and the dialect are known as the---------------------?

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During the gubernatorial campaign of 1948, W. Kerr Scott appealed to the rural citizens of North Carolina for support.  He used the term "Branchhead Boys" to describe those people with a rural background.  He put special emphasis on the agricultural community and what he described as those people living  at the head of a creek or branch.  The response was overwhelming and resulted in Scott gaining the Govenor's office.  The same group of supporter went on to become a political force in North Carolina.

Staying with the "Boys" theme, what group of people became known as the "Branchhead Boys"?  Who brought them into being and for what purpose?

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The group was known as the "Boys Road Patrol".  Initially formed in 1915 and assigned to the Department of Agriculture, then transferred to the State Board of Education in 1925.  It remained a road building force well into the 1930s when the Department of Transportation took over most road building.

This small organization was chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1915.  Under the leadership of J. Hampton Rich, the group was responsible for "preaching traffic and pedestrian safety".  It was a strong force in the the counties of Forsyth and Davie.  It would later begin the management of roads by "dragging and draining" unpaved sections of road.   It was housed in the Department of Agriculture until 1925 and then transferred to the Department of Education.  It remained active until the mid 1930s.  A slogan, "A Boy on Every Mile" was coined to descibe this group.   What was this organization formal name?

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Great Wagon Road, formally known as "the Warrior's Path" from the 1700s.

This road is an important part of North Carolina's history.  In the early 1700s, the road began in Philadelphia, ran through Maryland and Virginia and entered North Carolina in Stokes County.  From there it began a southwestern route and would provide the ways and means to develop small towns along the way.  The road followed a hunting and war trail that provided the native Indians with a path to follow.  German, Scotch and Irish immigrants used this route to populated the region.  Moravian towns of Bethabara, Bethania and Salem owe their start to this migration.  Salisbury and Charlotte was founded by this same group of people.  As the route entered the central parts of North Carolina, the road split and became known as Island Ford Road, Sherrill's Ford Road and the Georgia Road.  All three became major routes for trade and travel. 

Lord Charles Cornwallis led his English army along this path in order to destroy General Nathanael Greene's Continental Army.  General Greene was able to withstand the attack and lived on for another day.

Some of the original road can be found in Maryland and Virginia.  The road in North Carolina can be found in heavily wooded forest even today.  Most of the original path has been lost to urban development.

What was this road known as in 1750?