2021 Apple Butter Festival
October 9 is the date.
Mark your calendars!
See Our Videos!
MCHS has a collection of videos of our programs and other events available online for all to see. They are cataloged by the year they were recorded. Stop in and learn some things you may not have known!
MCHS Membership & Newsletter
Please consider becoming a member of the Mitchell County Historical Society.
Discounts on merchandise purchased from the MCHS store are but one of the many goodies for members of MCHS. Here is a preview of the newsletter members receive, the Quarterly Review. Download a copy (PDF file – opens with the free Adobe Reader software) and see what members will be receiving beginning in the new year. Plus, you will get advance notice (and input) on our presentation series, opportunities to volunteer to help preserve our history, and access to online resources to research topics and genealogy in our office located in the Historic Mitchell County Courthouse.
Not a member? Join today!
The 2020
Christmas Ornament
The 2020 Mitchell County Historical Society Christmas Ornament honors the Good Will Free Library, constructed by Dr. Charles H. Wing who retired to Mitchell County after a distinguished academic career. He made it his mission to bring education to residents, providing vocational training and opening a library filled with many of his own books that he loaned throughout the county. It was during its time the largest public library in North Carolina.
The Corona Times
MCHS Documents the
Corona Virus Pandemic
The History & Heritage of
Mitchell County, NC
The Mitchell County Historical Society is committed to the preservation of the history, heritage, and culture of Mitchell County, North Carolina. We hope you enjoy your visit and stop by often for updated stories, photos, and videos.
What’s New on the Site
Here are our latest posts about Mitchell County’s history. We welcome suggestions for topics. Please contact us to submit your ideas!
Places
Interesting stories
November Rain: Remembering the Flood of 1977
On November 6, 1977, the mountains of North Carolina saw one of the worst natural disasters to hit the area in nearly sixty-one years. On Friday, the 4th, heavy rain began to...
Silent Witness – The Mitchell County Courthouse Ghost
The Historic Mitchell County Courthouse has been a landmark in Bakersville since 1907. For over one hundred years, the courthouse has served the community in many different...
George Rufus Dale Built an Ideal Community
On June 17, 1940, an article appeared in the Asheville Citizen entitled “Mitchell County Farmer Uses Own Family to Build an Ideal Community.” The piece, written by Mrs. Romulus...
People
Significant Individuals
Mary Whitson Byrd, “Mountain Gal”
Mary Elizabeth Whitson Byrd was born 11-27-1882 in Tipton Hill, and except for 2 years, she lived in that Mitchell County community her entire life. She was the daughter of...
POLLY WRIGHT STEWART SAW FIVE GENERATIONS
Mary Wright was born about 1836 according to her death certificate, but most census records show her as being a few years younger, born perhaps about 1839. Her parents, Solomon...
Mitchell County’s Mica Mine Murders
Waightstill Avery Anderson was a Mitchell County revenue officer. Anderson married Nora Bowman, the daughter of J.W. Bowman and Mary Garland. Anderson had the reputation as a man...
History
Happenings of note
J.J. Britt: Defender of Freedom
On 19 October 1899, J.J. Britt, presiding over the North Carolina Republican Party meeting in Statesville opposing the suffrage amendment, the Campaign for Freedom In North...
Our Earliest Highway: Bright’s Trace and the Yellow Mountain Road
Most of us journey up US Highway 19E to Avery County not realizing we’re traveling over millions of hoofprints, footprints, wagon tracks, and finally automobile tracks that have...
The Bakersville Riot: The Greatest Battle In America since the Massacre of Little Big Horn
In 1893, an event known as the Bakersville Riot launched Bakersville across the front pages of newspapers worldwide.The events leading up to the riot occurred eleven years...
Communities
Unique locales in Mitchell County
Estatoe
This Mitchell County community in southern Mitchell County lies along Brushy Creek. The name comes from an Indian Princess who fell in love with a brave from a rival tribe....
Roan Mountain
Mitchell County’s most famous mountain straddles the Tennessee border at an elevation of 6,200 feet above sea level. It was probably named for its roan color when seen from a...
Penland
This world-renown community in southern Mitchell County, is famous for it’s School of Handicrafts. At an elevation of 2,462 feet, it was named for Milton Penland, pioneer settler...
Icons
These define Mitchell County
W.G. Honeycutt – A Mitchell County Hero
Veterans Day is a holiday created to celebrate our real-life heroes. When we think of heroes, they often seem larger than life and we tend to forget they are real people. One...
James Oliver Young: World War II and Christian Hero
James Oliver Young was born to William Patrick Henry and Dora Sina Buchanan Young 31 August 1910 in the Clarissa community on Cane Creek. His siblings included Ethel Eve, Robert...
Honoring Mitchell County’s WWII Heroes: Arthur Ray Buchanan
Speaking of Ray Buchanan, folks will say admiringly with a shudder, “Oh, yes, he was a survivor of that awful Bataan Death March.” This does not come close to what 17-year-old...