RALEIGH--North Carolina's state parks set an attendance record last year.
The state Division of Parks and Recreation says attendance at its parks increased 10 percent last year from 2013. The agency said parks attracted 15.6 million visitors in 2014 and 27 of the state's 39 parks and recreation areas had higher attendance last year.
The William B. Umstead State Park in Wake County had the highest number of visitors, with nearly 1.3 million visits in 2014. Five other parks topped the 1 million mark in visitors. They were Fort Macon and Jockey's Ridge state parks and Falls Lake, Jordan Lake and Kerr Lake state recreation areas.