Editing Avery County, North Carolina (section)

==History==
The county is the newest of [[List of counties in North Carolina|North Carolina's 100 counties]]. It was formed in 1911 from parts of [[Caldwell County, North Carolina|Caldwell County]], [[Mitchell County, North Carolina|Mitchell County]], and [[Watauga County, North Carolina|Watauga County]]. It was named for [[Waightstill Avery]], a colonel in the [[American Revolutionary War]] and the first [[North Carolina Attorney General|Attorney General of North Carolina]] (1777–1779). 

It is often noted for the large amount of [[Christmas trees]] that the county produces. The county seat was originally in the town of Elk Park, which was then the largest town in the county, located on the county's north end, on the Tennessee line. Upon completion of the county's courthouse in 1912, the seat was moved to the central location of what was then an unincorporated area known as Fields of Toe, for the meadows along the head of the Toe River, in what is now the incorporated Town of Newland. The town was so named for then Lt. Gov. [[William C. Newland|William Newland]], an influential Democrat, who helped garner support in the then heavily Democratic legislature in Raleigh, for Avery County, an overwhelmingly pro-[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] Republican area, becoming the state's 100th and final county.

According to local legend, Elk Park citizens were upset at the decision to move of the county seat from their town, and they refused to give up the books. The then-sheriff, like all county officials, was a Democrat and an interim appointee of the Democratic governor in Raleigh, who would hold office from July 1, 1911, until the next election cycle in late 1912, when the almost all-Republican electorate would undoubtedly vote in all Republicans as local officials. The sheriff was leery of confronting the irate local Elk Park citizens, so his wife baked cookies and had their pastor deliver them as a peace offering. The citizens then cheerfully handed over the books, which were sent to the new offices at the new courthouse in Newland.<ref name=":0" />