Can you show any case law that supports that position? The relevant statue in NC is 14-190.9. Just reading paragraph (a), I'd agree with you because "private parts" normally does not include breasts. But then there's paragraph (b). Although likely added to protect the rights of a woman to breastfeed, it changes the interpretation of paragraph (a).

A standard principle of statutory contruction is that a "statute should be constructed so that effect is given to all of its provisions, so that no part will be inoperative" Hibbs v. Winn. If we interpret (a) as having the conventional meaning where "private parts" excludes breasts, then what effect does (b) have in that statute? Since it's presumed to have some effect, then "private parts" in (a) must therefore be read to include the breast.

Do you know anything about the legislative history or case law that would preclude interpreting 14-190.9(a) as making a women being topless illegal in NC? (For example, is there an ERA-type clause in the state constitution?) Otherwise, I'd say it most likely is illegal and thefore of course would therefore apply in any park (Federal or otherwise) or other location within the state.

But, having said all that, I want to remind people that when thinking about being topless or nude, although it's definitely valuable to know the law (or as much as one can about the law, since here a case may well be decided either way), it's much more important to know what's accepted than what's legal. Two examples from NY:

(1) It's unquestionably illegal to be nude at Lighthouse Beach, but it's so well-accepted that law enforcement from all levels (county, state, and federal) won't bother anybody who's nude there.

(2) It's unquestionably legal for a woman to be topless walking down the street in Manhattan. But it's not well accepted and a woman doing so shouldn't be surprised if the police speaks to her about it.

So if BlondieNC had said it was accepted to be topless in those areas, I couldn't disagree (or agree, for that matter: I don't have any information on that at all) and that might well be the more important issue. But it's nevertheless important to be careful when talking about the law.