Poison ivy is everywhere in NC. It looks a lot like boxelder, but its always a vine, never a tree. Poison ivy vines have brown hairs covering them. You'll never miss it after you see it once. There are a lot of over the counter drug store treatments for it, but regular old dish soap is plenty good at removing it. Its just oil. Any soap that cuts grease will remove poison ivy from your skin.
Not everyone has a reaction to it. Despite all my allergies, I have no reaction to poison ivy whatsoever.