Why no NC but lots of DC?

I've lived in Hampton Roads a long time. We live in VA here in the Tidewater VA region, an area on the border with NC. People from NC commute daily to Norfolk, Portsmouth, or Newport News shipyards bases facilities etc. It's even part of the greater metro area. It's on the local news (Elizabeth City anyway). But people act like area code 252 is a foreign country. Makes little sense.