AVERY COUNTY

Avery County was formed in 1911 from Mitchell, Watauga, and Caldwell. It was named in honor of Colonel Waightstill Avery, a soldier of the Revolution and Attorney General of North Carolina. It is in the northwestern section of the State and is bounded by the state of Tennessee and the counties of Watauga, Caldwell, Burke, McDowell and Mitchell. The present land area is 247.00 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 17,797. Of that population, 16,364 were white, 709 were black or African American, 75 were American Indian, 56 were Asian, 8 were Pacific Islander and 435 were of a different race. Another 150 were reported to be of two or more races and 797 were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Commissioners were named in the act establishing the county who were to select two or more sites for the county seat after which the county would vote on the sites. Newland is the county seat.

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Areas of Avery County are in the Watauga River Basin, the Catawba River Basin and the French Broad River Basin. (Watershed map.) Avery County is in the mountain region.

References:

"American Factfinder." 2011. U. S. Census Bureau. Online at http://factfinder2.census.gov/. Accessed 3/3/2011.

Corbitt, David L. 2000. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. Sixth printing. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History.

Powell, William Stevens, and Michael R. Hill. 2010. The North Carolina gazetteer: a dictionary of Tar Heel places and their history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Additional resources:

North Carolina Digital Collections. (Government & Heritage Library & NC State Archives)

NC LIVE resources

NC Natural Heritage Program database

WorldCat (Searches numerous library catalogs)