In the Blue Ridge Mountains of northeastern North Carolina, along the Virginia and Tennessee borders, sits rural, mountainous Ashe County. When an act of the North Carolina General Assembly created Ashe in 1799, the county had previously been claimed by four other counties, the short-lived State of Franklin, and even France, based on treaty claims that the New River drained into the Mississippi. Ashe’s history is a mix of early exploration, rebellion, agricultural and industrial development, and Appalachian culture.
This work is a reprint of the first-ever complete history of Ashe County, North Carolina, originally commissioned by the Ashe County Research Association and published in 1963. Chapters cover early explorers, including Bishop Spangenberg, whose Moravians were the first recorded explorers in the region, and Daniel Boone; the ill-fated War of Regulation, which preceded the American Revolution; the county's creation in 1799; Ashe County’s role in the Civil War and both World Wars; religion; education; industry; highways; local organizations; community leaders and newspapers; recreation; and folklore. Appendices provide rosters of Ashe County veterans who served in World Wars I and II and a list of regional land entries from 1778.
About the Author
Ashe native Arthur Lloyd Fletcher served in the North Carolina National Guard in World Wars I and II and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. He won election as North Carolina Commissioner of Labor in 1932, was a presidential appointee to the U.S. Department of Labor in 1938, and was later chairman of the North Carolina Employment Security Commission. He was also the author of History of the 133rd Field Artillery, 30th Division and History of the N.C. Department of the American Legion, 1919–1959.
