BUNCOMBE COUNTY

Buncombe was formed in 1791 from Burke and Rutherford. It was named in honor of Colonel Edward Buncombe, a Revolutionary soldier, who was wounded and captured at the Battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, and in May, 1778, died a paroled prisoner in Philadelphia. It is in the western section of the State and is bounded by McDowell, Henderson, Haywood, Madison, and Yancey counties. The present land area is 655.99 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 238,318. Of that population, 208,192 were white, 15,211 were black or African American, 948 were American Indian, 2,417 were Asian, 289 were Pacific Islander and 6,266 were of a different race. Another 4,995 were reported to be of two or more races and 14,254 were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Asheville, named in honor of Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina, 1796-1798, is the county seat.

Do you have digital photographs of Buncombe County to add to this slideshow?
To view this slideshow, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.

Buncombe County is in the French Broad River Basin. It is located in the mountain region.

References:

"American Factfinder." 2011. U. S. Census Bureau. Online at http://factfinder2.census.gov/. Accessed 3/3/2011.

Corbitt, David L. 2000. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. Sixth printing. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History.

Powell, William Stevens, and Michael R. Hill. 2010. The North Carolina gazetteer: a dictionary of Tar Heel places and their history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Additional resources:

North Carolina Digital Collections. (Government & Heritage Library & NC State Archives)

NC LIVE resources

NC Natural Heritage Program database

WorldCat (Searches numerous library catalogs)