This western Mitchell County community was named for Major Jonathon Tipton III. Major Jonathon became embroiled in a 1784 dispute over the new state of Franklin.  The dispute was actually between him and his older brother Colonel John Tipton and Colonel John Sevier, (both of whom lived in what is today Eastern Tennessee) which at that time was going to become the State of Franklin. Colonel John wanted to break away from North Carolina and form Franklin. Major John wanted to remain part of North Carolina. So in 1797 he moved back across the Unaka Mountains into the Toe River Valley where he founded the community of Tipton Hill, NORTH CAROLINA.