On February 23, 1911, Avery County became the last of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
Located on the Tennessee border in the mountainous northwest corner of the state called the “High Country,” Avery was formed from parts of neighboring Mitchell, Watauga and Caldwell counties. It was named for Colonel Waightstill Avery, a Revolutionary War officer and the state’s first attorney general.
The county’s large strands of Fraser fir trees have made it known as “the Christmas tree capital.” A popular tourist destination, Avery County also has become known as the home of Grandfather Mountain, its annual Highland Games and the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Linn Cove Viaduct, a curved, 1,234-foot-long, elevated bridge recognized as one of America’s major engineering feats.
The town of Newland, incorporated in 1913 and named for lieutenant governor William Calhoun Newland, is the county seat. At 3,589 feet in elevation, it is the highest county seat in the eastern United States.
Avery’s Beech Mountain ski resort community, which got its start in the late 1960s, became a town in 1981. Located at 5,506 feet in elevation, it is the highest municipality in eastern America and receives nearly 100 inches of snow each winter.
See more stunning historical images of Avery County from the UNC-Chapel Hill Library.
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