Welcome from the Ashe County Historical Society. Our goal is to promote and preserve the history of Ashe County. This site provides products and resources related to that mission
This Week in Ashe County History:
| Date | Event | | 03-01-1915 | On this date, Tam Bowie was sworn in as Speaker of the House for the North Carolina General Assembly. Although he was a young politician at the time, Bowie's forceful personality allowed him to gain the votes necessary to achieve the speakership. He is the only resident of Ashe County ever to have held this position. |
| 03-02-1912 | On this date, a fight at the Nathan's Creek Academy led to the murder of a 15 year old student. Monroe Hall, a 20 year old native of Wilkes County, was attending an after school party, when he began fighting with the young Pennington. In the ensuing argument, Hall drew a pocket knife and stabbed his classmate in the chest, killing him. Hall was taken to the jail in Jefferson and ultimately tried for murder. |
| 03-02-1935 | On this day "The Scarecrow Creeps" a three act mystery play, was performed at the Elkland School. The school at that time was a newly built structure which would have served as a state of the art venue for such theatrical performances. The school is no longer existent, but the gymnasium still stands, and is currently on the National Historic Register. |
| 03-03-1779 | 340 Acres were granted to Col. Benjamin Cleveland in Ashe County. Cleveland, and resident of Wilkes County and one of the heroes of Kings Mountain, would lay claim to several tracts in Ashe, including the 'Old Fields' near the twin bridges on highway 221. In 1781, Colonel Cleveland would be kidnapped by a band of Tory raiders while visiting one of his properties in Ashe. The tract he bought on this day would someday become home to the town of West Jefferson. |
| 03-04-1911 | Robert Dougton was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Although a native of Alleghany, with a home just across the county line in Laurel Springs, Doughton was instrumental in bringing improvements to Ashe. Serving as chairman of the power Ways and Means Committee in Congress for 18 years, he was instrumental in the creation of the Social Security Act. Ashe County probably best remembers him as the man who built the Blue Ridge Parkway, bringing the nationally known tourist destination to his home counties in the North Carolina mountains. |
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