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Events and things to do in North Carolina, with dates, prices and drive times checked at the source.

How Many State Parks Are in North Carolina?

North Carolina events › Answers › How Many State Parks Are in North Carolina?

North Carolina has 43 state park units on the official ncparks.gov list: 34 state parks, 4 state recreation areas, 3 state natural areas, 1 state park unit, 1 nature preserve. The most are in Triangle (9).

  • Park Units43ncparks.gov list
  • Regions8of nine
  • Most InTriangle9 units
  • Free Day Use37park pages

By Megan Ross. Megan Ross is a pen name used by the It’s North Carolina editorial team (who writes this). Last reviewed October 27, 2026.

Parks by Region

State Park Units by Region
RegionUnitsParks
Asheville & Foothills4Chimney Rock State Park, Gorges State Park, Lake James State Park, South Mountains State Park
High Country8Elk Knob State Park, Grandfather Mountain State Park, Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, Mount Mitchell State Park, New River State Park, Pilot Mountain State Park, Rendezvous Mountain, Stone Mountain State Park
Charlotte Region3Crowders Mountain State Park, Lake Norman State Park, Morrow Mountain State Park
Triad3Hanging Rock State Park, Haw River State Park, Mayo River State Park
Triangle9Eno River State Park, Falls Lake State Recreation Area, Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, Kerr Lake State Recreation Area, Lower Haw River State Natural Area, Medoc Mountain State Park, Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Raven Rock State Park, William B. Umstead State Park
Sandhills3Carvers Creek State Park, Lumber River State Park, Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve
Eastern Plain & Inner Banks8Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, Dismal Swamp State Park, Goose Creek State Park, Jones Lake State Park, Lake Waccamaw State Park, Merchants Millpond State Park, Pettigrew State Park, Singletary Lake State Park
Coast5Carolina Beach State Park, Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, Fort Macon State Park, Hammocks Beach State Park, Jockey's Ridge State Park

Counts are computed from our park data, read on ncparks.gov. Three units listed on the state site as not open are left out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which state park is the oldest?

The Mount Mitchell State Park page says the state park system began there.

Is there a map?

The state parks hub has a map with every unit pinned.

What We Could Not Confirm

  • ncparks.gov states no total; the count here is the number of unit pages we read.

Sources

  1. NC State Parks list

Read on October 27, 2026. How we check: editorial standards; spot a mistake? Tell us.

Cite this page: It's North Carolina, “How Many State Parks Are in North Carolina?”, itsnorthcarolina.com/answers/how-many-state-parks-are-in-north-carolina/ (updated ). By the It's North Carolina editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.