| Averasboro | formerly a town on the Cape Fear River in SE Harnett County. Provided for by legislative act in 1791, to be laid off on land owned by Alexander Avera and called Averasburg. Site of a gristmill about 1740 and soon afterward of other public buildings. Site of Confederate attack on Sherman's army, March 15, 1865. Town began to decline soon after Civil War and by 1888 was practically abandoned. Site, 1 mi. S of Erwin, is marked by grove of large oak and beech trees and sets of historic houses and historical markers. |
| Avery County | was formed in 1911 from Mitchell, Watauga, and Caldwell Counties. In the NW section of the state, it is bounded by the state of Tennessee and by Watauga, Caldwell, Burke, McDowell, and Mitchell Counties. It was named for Colonel Waightstill Avery (1741-1821), Revolutionary soldier and attorney general of North Carolina. Area: 247 sq. mi. County seat: Newland, with an elevation of 3,589. Townships are Altamont, Banner Elk, Beech Mountain, Cranberry, Linville, Roaring Gap, Toe River, Wilson's Creek. Produces corn, dairy and beef cattle, Christmas trees, mica, hay, cabinets, textiles, kaolin, iron, sand and gravel. There are also deposits of olivine and asbestos in the county. |