On September 8, 1712, Governor Edward Hyde died of yellow fever at his home on the Albemarle Sound.
On September 7, 1846, a violent hurricane hit the Outer Banks and opened Hatteras and Oregon Inlets.
On September 7, 1859, John Merrick was born into slavery in Sampson County. When he was 12-years-old, Merrick and his mother moved to Chapel Hill, where he worked in a brickyard and she was a house servant.
On September 7, 1881, Sidney Lanier, widely-acclaimed poet, author and musician, died at his home in Polk County.
On September 7, 1860, educator and founding president of UNC-Greensboro Charles McIver was born in what’s now Lee County.
On September 5, 1953, a nuclear reactor went online at North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University) in Raleigh, making it the world’s first nuclear research reactor to be designed, built, and operated by an academic institution.
On September 5, 1802, political rivals John Stanly and Richard Dobbs Spaight, both armed with smooth-bore flintlock pistols, took deliberate aim at each other and fired. It was 5:30 p.m., and the pair were positioned behind the Masonic Lodge in New Bern.
On September 5, 1917, the Pamlico County Schools inaugurated the first motorized school bus service in North Carolina.