Early English explorers noted the abundance of pines, as they explored the lands of North Carolina and South Carolina.  Adopted as the North Carolina state tree in 1963, the pine tree grows in all 100 North Carolina counties.  The state contains a variety of pines, but the state’s most known pine tree might be the long leaf pine—the one mentioned in the state’s toast:

Here's to the land of the long leaf pine,
The summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!

Here's to the land of the cotton bloom white,
Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,
Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate,
'Neath the murmuring pines of the Old North State!

Here's to the land where the galax grows,
Where the rhododendron's rosette glows,
Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great,
In the "Land of the Sky," in the Old North State!

Here's to the land where maidens are fair,
Where friends are true and cold hearts rare,
The near land, the dear land, whatever fate,
The blest land, the best land, the Old North State!

And, the moon has always played an important part in human culture.  There are many stories about the moon from all over the world.  Our favorite is one of historical importance and the State of South Carolina. 
A flag carried by Colonel William Moultrie’s South Carolina militia, during the Revolutionary War, boldly displayed the crescent moon as a symbol for liberty.  The South Carolina flag still proudly, displays the crescent moon from this, Revolutionary flag, today.