Tarheel Story

Item #2011

Special Commission

(August, 1985) Tarheel is a real Carolinian, complete with a patch of tar on his right heel. He is carrying a genuine Civil War bullet from Averasboro Battleground near Dunn, N.C. He dug it up on the grounds of Oak Grove, the plantation house used by the Confederates as a hospital. On his base are many things that represent his North Carolina heritage. He has collected soybeans, peanuts, cotton, pecans, and pine cones. A young tobacco leaf curves up his back. His coin is from Greece. It pictures a long leaf pine, our state tree. Airborne wings are also present. They stand for Dunn’s General William C. Lee, the “Father of the Airborne,” and for Fort Bragg, N.C., our nation’s largest military base and home of the 82nd Airborne.

Dr. Thomas F. Clark