BURKE COUNTY

Burke was formed in 1777 from Rowan. The act was to become effective June 1, 1777. It was named in honor of Dr. Thomas Burke, a member of the Continental Congress and governor of North Carolina, 1781-1782. It is in the west central section of the State and is bounded by Catawba, Cleveland, Rutherford, McDowell, Avery and Caldwell counties. The present land area is 506.72 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 90,912. Of that population, 76,716 were white, 6,012 were black or African American, 325 were American Indian, 3,185 were Asian, 303 were Pacific Islander and 2,774 were of a different race. Another 1,597 were reported to be of two or more races and 4,634 were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The act establishing Burke specified that the first court was to be held at a place the justices should decide until they selected a permanent place for the courthouse and had the same erected. In 1784 Morgansborough was established and made the county seat. Morganton is the present county seat.

Do you have digital photographs of Burke County to add to this slideshow?
To view this slideshow, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.

Burke County is in the Catawba River Basin. Parts of Burke County are in the mountain region and parts are in the Piedmont region. For statistical purposes, however, Burke County is often classified as part of 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)