Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Yancey County, North Carolina

In December, 1833, the N.C. General Assembly established a new western county to be named in honor of one of North Carolina's most distinguished statesmen, Bartlett Yancey, of north-central Caswell County. As U.S. Congressman (1813-1817) and as speaker of the N.C. Senate (1817-1827) he was instrumental in many accomplishments that benefited the state, including the creation of an education fund that was the beginning of the N.C. Public School System. He was an advocate of correcting the inequality in representation in the General Assembly by the creation of new western counties; but he passed away on August 30, 1828, over five years before the General Assembly created a new county, named Yancey, from sections of Burke and Buncombe Counties. In Yancey's boundries looms Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak in Eastern U.S.. at 6,684 feet above sea level.

Source: Yancey County

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