“The cities of Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh and Fayetteville make a rough rhombus across Central North Carolina. Smack-dab in the middle is the state’s center of population, just east of Interstate 74.
“The closest town is the unincorporated community of Erect, founded in the 18th century by German settlers who made a name for themselves in the pottery business.”
— From “Each state’s population center, visualized” by Reid Wilson at The Hill (Dec. 30)
Once North Carolinians’ early and rapid east-to-west migration took hold, this demographic distinction has slowly zigzagged southward.
The geographic center of the state? Well, let’s let Jeremy Markovich wrestle with that one….