Has Scotland moved to North Carolina USA?
If you thought there were more Scots in Scotland than people of Scottish Descent in the one USA state of North Carolina you would be wrong.
That is hardly surprising as huge numbers of Scots left Scotland at the time of the Highland Clearances and in the following years to seek their fortune in the New World of USA as well as Canada, Australia and the Far East. Our Laird of Jura website looking at the history and culture of the Isle of Jura tells of nearly 2,000 people who left the island and the surrounding area and ended up in North Carolina.
However what I did not know until fairly recently when I was reading about the town of Laurinburg in North Carolina which is as Scottish as the country of Scotland if not more so. For example:
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.
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.
Visit St Andrews Presbyterian College (named after the patron saint of Scotland) and you will be challenged by a large Scottish Highlander with his Claymore Sword defending the college or at least a bronze statue of a highland warrior.
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.
A local soccer team is known as the Scottish Claymores.
We cannot ignore the fact that many local street names are named after places in Scotland including Skye, Argyllshire, Oban, Kintyre.
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.
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 9:22 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.