The length of North Carolina, east and west, is considerably greater than
the distance between Boston and Washington. The western part of the State
is mountainous. From its heights the state slopes into the vast Piedmont
Plateau, a sub-mountain terrace, and thence into the low country or the
Atlantic plain. In western North Carolina the Appalachian Mountains reach
the greatest height in the United States eastward of the Rocky Mountains.
The eye of an observer from the heights near Blowing Rock descries in one
view mountain summits in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina.
The people of western North Carolina are white by a vast majority, while
in the eastern part of the State the black population predominates. In
twenty-five of the western counties 88 per cent. of the people are white.
In the same number of the farthest eastern counties there is a majority of
ten thousand black people. In accordance with this fundamental fact, the
work of the American Missionary Association in the western part of the
State is chiefly among the white, and in the eastern part of the State,
among the black people.
In both Carolinas the vast majority of the population is rural. According
to the last census there was only one city in each State with more than
twenty thousand people, and only six places with more than ten thousand.
In Wilmington, the largest city of North Carolina, the American Missionary
Association began work as the war was closing. Of the twenty-four thousand
people in the county, fourteen thousand are black. Fourteen years ago Mr.
J. J. H. Gregory, of Massachusetts, became much interested in this field
and erected a fine brick church and commodious school buildings. The
combined church and school work have gone on with continued efficiency and
prosperity. There is a strong desire on the part of the people for the
development of an industrial department in the school. The elevating
influence of the church is felt not only in Wilmington, but throughout the
surrounding communities. A great many of the school students have become
teachers in the city schools and in different parts of the State.
[Illustration: CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WILMINGTON, N. C.]