There’s a heap of unfamiliar history behind the names of the nineteen counties that form Western North Carolina. Strangely enough, these names are as familiar to us as their origin and meaning are unfamiliar and the search for their source and significance reflect images of past people. Most folks native to the region can reel off the names of our nineteen mountain counties with the ease of a first grader reciting his or her letters, but when it comes to identifying them with the men they honor there’s a scratching of heads.
Except for genealogists and historians, chances are not one person in a hundred can identify the county named for a man known as “Old Bunk” or the county honoring “Pleasant Gardens Joe.” If you know the county named for a man who could have kept Andrew Jackson out of the history books, go to the head of the class. But we will give odds you’ll never guess the name of the county which would bear a different name if the man it honors hadn’t quarreled with his family and left Ireland.
The first in order was the 100th and the last county created in North Carolina. Avery, established in 1911, was for Colonel Waightstill Avery, Revolutionary patriot and the state’s first attorney general, who, challenged to a duel by young Andrew Jackson, allowed the young red head to fire and miss and then marched up to lecture him on his hotheadedness instead of shooting him.
Buncombe, formed in 1792, once extended to the western boundary of the state and was named for Col. Edward Buncombe who came from St. Kitts in the West Indies to Tyrrell County in 1766 where he built a mansion of 55 rooms called Buncombe Hall. He was a Revolutionary War figure, wounded at Germantown and died of his wounds while on parole in Philadelphia.
Burke, formed in 1777, extended to the Mississippi River and was named for Thomas Burke who emigrated to America because of a family quarrel. He was governor of the sate from 1781 to 1782 and is buried near Hillsborough.
Cherokee, formed in 1839, was given its name from the Indians whose lands the county encompassed. Some folks wanted to name it Junaluska, after the famous Cherokee chief.
Clary, formed in 1861, was name in honor of Henry Clay, the great patriot and orator.
Graham became a county in 1872 and named for William A. Graham, U.S. Senator, Governor, Secretary of the Navy and Confederate States Senator. Incidentally, Robbinsville, its county seat is nearer to the capitals of six other states than to its own.
Haywood, formed in 1808, was named for John Haywood, State Treasurer from 1787 to 1827, and Waynesville, the county seat, was named for General “Mad Anthony” Wayne of Revolutionary War fame.
Henderson, formed in 1838, was named for Leonard Henderson who served as Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court from 1772 until 1833. Upon his death, his successor was chosen by the toss of a coin.
Jackson, formed in 1851 was named for President Andrew Jackson and the first county seat was at Webster, named for Old Daniel, which lost out to Sylva in 1913 when the railroad bypassed it. Incidentally, the present county seat was named for a wandering Dane, William D. Sylva, who paused there briefly.
Macon, formed in 1828, was named for a statesman who argued that five dollars a day was ample pay for a Congressman and who had a rule while in Congress that “if a measure did not arouse great enthusiasm in any one section of the nation” he would consider voting for it, but not otherwise. His name was Nathaniel Macon. He was a Jeffersonian Republican and sat in Congress for 37 years, believing that government should be a policeman for the protection of life and property and nothing more. Macon was a fancier of wine made from scuppernong grape and, when sending Thomas Jefferson a couple bottles in 1819, described it as “the best in America”.