This Land, Your Land

Then N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation is reporting "near-record attendance" in 2010 at North Carolina’s state parks and state recreation areas.

Total visits came to 14 million, slightly less that the all-time record of 14.2 million visits in 2009, a news release says. Twenty-one state parks or recreation areas out of 39 in the system reported an increase in visits in 2010.

Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Dare County reported the highest attendance at 1.47 million visits, an increase of 3 percent over last year.

Mayo River State Park in Rockingham County opened to the public in April, and attracted 36,772 visitors during the year.

Parks with significant increases in visitation included Hanging Rock State Park in Stokes County (38 percent), New River State Park in Ashe and Alleghany counties (31 percent), Goose Creek State Park in Beaufort County (29) percent and Pettigrew State Park in Washington and Tyrell counties (26 percent).

More than a half million people were registered to camp in state parks during the year.