8 Things South Carolinians Do That North Carolinians Will Never Understand

A 2016 GPS survey found that the border between North Carolina and South Carolina had drifted for more than two centuries.

Correcting it moved nineteen homes and a gas station into a different state without anyone packing a single box.

These are the things South Carolinians do that leave North Carolinians shaking their heads.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Fireworks and vehicle inspection laws vary by state and are subject to change.

1. They Douse It in Mustard

South Carolina’s classic barbecue sauce isn’t the thin vinegar-pepper mix North Carolina swears by.

It’s mustard, thinned with vinegar and brown sugar, and stained a deep gold.

Around Columbia and the Midlands, it shows up on pulled pork the way vinegar sauce shows up in eastern North Carolina, which is to say constantly.

Food writers trace it back to German immigrants who settled the South Carolina Midlands generations ago and never let go of their mustard pots.

Nobody apologizes for it.

Cross into North Carolina with a jar of it, and you’ll get a look like you brought contraband.

2. Boiled Peanuts Are Everywhere

South Carolina made boiled peanuts its official state snack food on May 1, 2006, when Gov. Mark Sanford signed Act 270 into law.

Lawmakers meant it.

The law spells out the method too: Peanuts boiled in the shell for at least an hour, exactly how roadside stands across the state already do it.

Truck beds, folding tables, and gas station parking lots all double as boiled peanut stands from the Upstate to the coast.

North Carolina sells the same peanuts at its own roadside stands.

North Carolina has claimed official state symbols for its fruit, its vegetable, and even a red berry, but never for a snack.

3. They Also Call Themselves “Carolina”

South Carolina’s flagship university doesn’t go by “South Carolina” on game day.

It goes by Carolina, the same shorthand North Carolina’s Tar Heels use up in Chapel Hill.

Both schools claim the name as their own, and both get testy when a broadcaster mixes up garnet with Carolina blue.

Nobody wins the argument.

A national announcer says “Carolina,” and half the room has to ask which one he means.

4. Fireworks Are Basically Unregulated

South Carolina lets shoppers buy Roman candles, bottle rockets, and other aerial fireworks pretty much any day of the year.

The state bans only a short list of the most dangerous stuff, like M-80s and cherry bombs.

That’s basically it.

North Carolina goes the other direction and bans anything that explodes, spins, or leaves the ground for personal use, full stop.

A stretch of fireworks stores lights up the South Carolina side of the line near Carowinds, open around the clock every summer.

None of it requires a permit or a waiting period.

North Carolina drivers pull in, load up, and drive straight back across a border where half of what they just bought is illegal.

5. Their Sales Tax Changes Mid-Ride

South Carolina hosts half of Carowinds, the amusement park founder E. Pat Hall opened directly on the North Carolina line on March 31, 1973.

Both states share the credit.

A brick plaza inside the gates marks the exact spot where South Carolina ends and North Carolina begins, with every county from both states set into the pavement.

South Carolina and North Carolina charge different sales tax rates.

A store that once sat directly on the line calculated tax by which door a customer walked through.

Beverage carts still have to stick to one state or the other.

Fury 325, the park’s tallest roller coaster, physically crosses the line at speeds close to 95 miles an hour.

Riders never notice the moment they change states.

6. I-77 Turns Into a Parking Lot

South Carolina’s York County keeps growing faster than its roads can handle, and North Carolina feels it every weekday morning.

York County is home to just over 300,000 people now.

A state transportation study found the county holds four of the five busiest interchanges on Interstate 77.

Many of those drivers commute north into Charlotte for work, then drive right back to South Carolina at night for the lower cost of living.

Bumper to bumper.

Charlotte drivers blame the backup on South Carolina’s growth, and South Carolina drivers blame it right back on North Carolina not building fast enough.

7. They Quit a Conference Full of North Carolina Schools

South Carolina spent decades playing in the same conference as North Carolina’s four Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools, and it hated almost every minute of it.

The Gamecocks left the ACC in 1971 after clashing with the league over recruiting rules and growing tired of hostile road crowds up and down Tobacco Road.

South Carolina spent two decades as an independent before the Southeastern Conference (SEC) came calling.

It accepted the SEC’s invitation in 1990 and started playing conference games in 1992.

The Gamecocks never looked back.

North Carolina’s schools stayed put in the ACC, still needling South Carolina about trading basketball tradition for football money.

8. Nobody Gets a Car Inspection

South Carolina stopped requiring yearly vehicle safety inspections back in 1995, and the state never brought the program back.

Mechanics complained the $2.50 they earned per inspection wasn’t worth their time, so lawmakers scrapped the whole requirement.

Just $2.50 a car.

North Carolina still runs inspections every single year, plus emissions checks in 19 counties, before it will renew a single registration.

Crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ranks South Carolina’s traffic fatality rate 4th-highest in the country, at 19.5 deaths per 100,000 residents against a 12.2 national average.

That’s three decades without a single checkup.

A South Carolina car can roll down the road for decades without a single official ever popping the hood.