North Carolina's Foremost Son in the War of 1812-1815 - For Him, This Town Is Named - He Guarded Well Our Seas, Let Our Mountains Honor Him.Īccording to the U.S. Otway Burns - Born in Onslow County, North Carolina, 1777 - Died at Portsmouth, North Carolina, 1850. The statue of Captain Burns was given to the county on July 5, 1909, by Walter Francis Burns, a grandson of the naval captain. A statue of Captain Burns stands on a 40-ton, Mount Airy granite pedestal in the center of the town's public square, which was given the official name of "Bailey Square" by the Yancey County Board of Commissioners on September 1, 1930. He was also a naval hero in the War of 1812. The town was named Burnsville in honor of Captain Otway Burns, who voted for the creation of the new western county when he was serving in the General Assembly. John was given the nickname for his famous temper as told in the books The Bailey Family of Yancey County, North Carolina and Heritage of the Tow River Valley by Lloyd Richard Bailey Sr. On March 6, 1834, "Yellow Jacket" John Bailey conveyed 100 acres (0.4 km 2) of land for the county seat. In Yancey's boundaries looms Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the Eastern U.S., at 6,684 feet (2037 m) above sea level. He was an advocate of correcting the inequality in representation in the General Assembly by the creation of new western counties īut he died on August 30, 1828, over five years before the General Assembly created a new county named in his honor. 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. Congressman (1813–1817) and as speaker of the N.C. Yancey County was named in honor of Bartlett Yancey, of Caswell County. In December 1833, the General Assembly established a new western county, named Yancey, from sections of Burke and Buncombe counties. In the year 1796, one of the early land speculators, John Gray Blount, paid for 326,640 acres (1322 km 2) of land, a portion of which later became Yancey County, North Carolina. Independent and sturdy Scottish, English, and Scotch-Irish and Irish settlers of the Carolina frontier had crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and settled the Toe River Valley by the mid-18th century. This land was inhabited by the Cherokee prior to European settlement, as was much of the Southern Appalachian region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,470. The Yancey County Courthouse/Burnsville Town Hall was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places by the State of North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, on August 10, 1979.Yancey County is a county located in the U.S. ![]() ![]() The upstairs board room, upon his passing, was named in Mark Bennett’s honor. ![]() Mayor Bennett led efforts to expand office space to the second floor as well as choosing a color palette more appropriate to the building. In 1987, Mayor Mark Bennett began efforts to both expand and renovate Town Hall to better suit the municipal government. Though this space was much more adequate than its previous home, the growing municipal government would soon need to expand into the rest of the building. The cupola (which currently sits on the Yancey County Courthouse) was later replaced with a clock tower through donations in an effort led by Cecil Shaw.Īfter renovation of the first floor all the existing town departments were moved into the office space located on the first floor of the building. For many years the bell sat on the judge’s back porch until it was transferred to Yancey County. On JJudge Anglin agreed to deed the real estate and property to the town, but specifically excluded the bell that hung in the belfry. The town offices were housed at the time in the current Fire Department facilities on North Main Street. In 1974, Mayor Jim Anglin encouraged his brother Bill to sell the former courthouse to the Town for Municipal use.
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