By state · NC

National Parks in North Carolina.

North Carolina's NPS network at a glance — units, designations, visit totals, and what shapes the visiting season.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

North Carolina shares Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Tennessee — the most-visited National Park in the country — plus the Blue Ridge Parkway (469 miles, consistently among the most-visited NPS units by total volume), Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Carl Sandburg Home, Fort Raleigh, Guilford Courthouse, Moores Creek, Wright Brothers National Memorial, and Trail of Tears National Historic Trail segments. Asheville (AVL), Raleigh-Durham (RDU), and Charlotte (CLT) anchor different parts of the network. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs the spine of the state's mountains and is technically open year-round, but it has frequent winter closures at elevation. October peak foliage drives the year's busiest weeks on the Parkway and in Great Smoky Mountains. The state is unusual within the NPS network for spanning both the southern Blue Ridge spine and a long Atlantic barrier-island coast — a single trip can cover both within a few days.

Every NPS unit in North Carolina.

North Carolina's 12 NPS units: 2 National Seashores · 2 National Historic Sites · 2 National Historic Trails · 1 National Scenic Trail · 1 Parkway · 1 National Park · 1 National Military Park · 1 National Battlefield · 1 National Memorial. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 40,018,135 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch — see methodology). The most-visited unit is Blue Ridge Parkway at about 16.34M annual visits.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Blue Ridge Parkway ParkwayBLRI 16,336,836 July
Great Smoky Mountains National Park National ParkGRSM 12,823,320 October
Appalachian National Scenic Trail National Scenic TrailAPPA 6,215,118 July
Cape Hatteras National Seashore National SeashoreCAHA 2,868,406 July
Cape Lookout National Seashore National SeashoreCALO 539,902 July
Wright Brothers National Memorial National MemorialWRBR 418,248 July
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park National Military ParkGUCO 383,290 July
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site National Historic SiteFORA 277,245 June
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site National Historic SiteCARL 96,834 July
Moores Creek National Battlefield National BattlefieldMOCR 58,936 February
Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail National Historic TrailOVVI — —
Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail National Historic TrailTRTE — —

Methodology

Unit list and per-unit visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025. The "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state NPS units (Yellowstone, Death Valley, Great Smoky Mountains and others) are listed under every state they touch; the per-unit visit count is the unit's total, not a per-state share. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

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Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-05-19