Levi Coffin (1798–1877), abolitionist and educator known as "President" of the Underground Railroad; credited with helping over 2,000 slaves escape to freedom before Civil War (Greensboro)
Sam Ervin (1896–1985), four-term U.S. Senator and Chairman of Senate Watergate Investigation Committee; began legislative process which led to resignation of President Richard Nixon (Morganton)
Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), 7th President of the United States, 1829–1837 (Waxhaw) (It should be noted his birth records are unclear and he may be from South Carolina side of border.)
Don Vaughan (born 1952), former member of the North Carolina State Senate who pushed for Susie's Law in 2010 (Greensboro)
Robert F. Williams (1925–1996), civil rights activist who advocated using black armed guards to defend African-American neighborhoods from white supremacist groups (Monroe)
David Gergen (born 1942), journalist; editor-at-large for U.S. News & World Report; director of Center for Public Leadership at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard; senior political analyst at CNN (Durham)
Dale Earnhardt Sr. (1951–2001), renowned NASCAR driver nicknamed "The Intimidator" for aggressive driving style; winner of 76 NASCAR races, 7-time Cup Series champion (Kannapolis)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born 1974), championship-winning NASCAR driver and protégé of his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr. (Kannapolis)
Mark Grace (born 1964), baseball player, Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star and Gold Glove Award-winning first baseman; MLB record for hits (1,754) and doubles (364) in decade of 1990s, broadcaster, coach (Winston-Salem)
Lee Petty (1914–2000), stock car driver, pioneer of NASCAR and three-time NASCAR champion in the 1950s; father of Richard Petty (Randleman)
Richard Petty (born 1937), stock car driver, holder of NASCAR record for all-time victories at 200, 7-time Cup Series champion; son of Lee Petty (Randleman)
John David Roy Atchison (1954–2007), Assistant US Attorney and children's sports coach, committed suicide in prison after being charged with soliciting sex from a 5-year-old girl (Chapel Hill)
Chang and Eng Bunker (1811–1874), the original Siamese twins who performed for audiences in Asia, Europe, and North America before settling in the mountains of North Carolina and marrying two local sisters (Wilkesboro)
Orson Scott Card (born 1951), lecturer and author of the award-winning science fiction book Ender's Game (Greensboro)
Robert Wilkie (born 1962), Defense Department Leader and National Security Assistant to the President (Fayetteville)
John Hope Franklin (1915–2009), historian and professor of African-American history at Duke University; also a civil-rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s (Durham)
Harry Golden (1902–1981), Jewish-American humorist, writer and publisher of the Carolina Israelite; author, Only in America (Charlotte)
Randolph Scott (1898–1987), film actor 1928–1962; his most enduring image is that of the tall-in-the-saddle Western hero; of his more than 100 film appearances, more than 60 were in Westerns (Charlotte)
George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862–1914), billionaire who created the Biltmore Estate in the North Carolina mountains; it is the largest privately owned mansion in the Western Hemisphere and North Carolina's top tourist attraction (Asheville)
Mia Hamm (born 1972), former soccer player for UNC-Chapel Hill, two-time Olympic gold medalist, twice named FIFA's World Player of the Year (Chapel Hill)
Marion Jones (born 1975), former basketball player for UNC-Chapel Hill and Olympic runner, winner of three gold medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics (Chapel Hill)
David Lynch (born 1946), film director and artist best known for directing the film Blue Velvet and the television series Twin Peaks, spent part of his childhood in NC (Durham)
