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Buncombe County, North Carolina
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==History== The area of modern day Buncombe County and its environs was originally populated by the [[Anigiduwagi]], better known as the Cherokee people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=As Long As the Grass Shall Grow: Cherokee Land Acknowledgement Website |url=https://www.buncombecounty.org/countycenter/news-detail.aspx?id=19645 |access-date=April 17, 2024 |website=Buncombe County Center |language=en}}</ref> Europeans, primarily of German, Scottish and English descent, began to live in Buncombe in the early 18th century.<ref name="BuncombeCountyNCHP">{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Jonathan |title=Buncombe County (1791) |url=https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/buncombe-county-1791/ |access-date=April 17, 2024 |website=North Carolina History Project |publisher=John Locke Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> Some the earliest permanent European settlers in Buncombe arrived in 1784.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Holland |first=Ron |year=1995 |title=Settlement of the Mountains, 1775-1838 |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/history/1776-1860/mountain-settlement |access-date=April 17, 2024 |website=NCpedia |publisher=Tar Heel Junior Historian Association}}</ref> These European settlers frequently broke their treaties with the Cherokee, gradually dispelling them from their land in Buncombe County by force.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lacey |first=Derek |title=Tough story to tell: Chronicles of Cherokee land cessions, broken treaties in Buncombe County |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2021/11/22/cherokee-nation-eastern-band-land-buncombe-county-wnc-history/6296680001/ |access-date=April 17, 2024 |website=The Asheville Citizen Times |language=en-US}}</ref> In December 1792 and April 1793, [[John Dillard]] was a commissioner in a local political dispute of determining where the county seat of Buncombe County should be located. It was provided in an act creating Buncombe County for a committee of five persons to be appointed for the selection of the site. A dispute arose between two factions of Buncombe County residents on opposite sides of the [[Swannanoa River]], one faction pressing for the county seat to be north of Swannanoa, which is now the center of Asheville, and the other faction demanding it to be at a place south of Swannanoa River, which later became known as the "Steam Saw Mill Place", and is now the southern part of the city of Asheville. Buncombe County was organized by [[European Americans]] after the [[American Revolutionary War]] in the home of Colonel William Davidson, a cousin of [[William Lee Davidson]] who was elected as the county's first [[North Carolina Senate|state senator]].<ref name="Allen Turner Davidson">{{cite web|url=http://ashevilleandbuncombecounty.blogspot.com/2014/11/william-davidson-confusion-continues.html|title=William Davidson Confusion Continues|date=November 17, 2014|access-date=November 8, 2018}}</ref> The first meeting of the county government took place in April 1792 in Colonel Davidson's barn (located on the present-day [[Biltmore Estate]]).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/08/18/visiting-our-past-missing-ears-other-topics-occupied-first-settlers/2035274001/|title=Visiting Our Past: Roads, orphans, speculation and missing ears occupied first settlers|last=Neufeld|first=Rob|work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]]|date=August 18, 2019|access-date=August 18, 2019}}</ref> At first, deeds were [[Recording (real estate)|recorded]] in [[Morganton, North Carolina|Morganton]], the nearest county seat. That was inconvenient for residents as roads were poor. In December 1792, seven men met to select a courthouse location for the county. The first courthouse was built at the present-day Pack Square site in Asheville.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/08/11/visiting-our-past-alcohol-drinking-helped-asheville-planners-1792/1926426001/|title=Visiting Our Past: Alcohol drinking helped Asheville planners in 1792|last=Neufeld|first=Rob|work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]]|date=August 11, 2019|access-date=August 11, 2019}}</ref> The county was formed in 1791 from parts of [[Burke County, North Carolina|Burke]] and [[Rutherford County, North Carolina|Rutherford]] counties. It was named for [[Edward Buncombe]], a colonel in the [[American Revolutionary War]] who was captured at the [[Battle of Germantown]].<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book|author=J.D. Lewis|title=NC Patriots 1775โ1783: Their Own Words, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fklAgjZap4YC&pg=PA54|publisher=JD Lewis|isbn=978-1-4675-4808-3|pages=54โ}}</ref><ref name="on1939">{{cite book|author=Best Books on|title=North Carolina, a Guide to the Old North State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAr0mAPEZ3kC&pg=PA496|year=1939|publisher=Best Books on|isbn=978-1-62376-032-8|pages=496โ}}</ref> An earlier proposed name was "Union County".<ref name="BuncombeCountyNCHP"/> The large county originally extended to the Tennessee line. Many of the early settlers were [[Baptists]]. In 1807 the pastors of six churches, including the revivalist [[Sion Blythe]], formed the French Broad Association of Baptist churches in the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fbinstitute.com/baptist-in-america/benedict29.htm |title=NORTH-CAROLINA |work=A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION IN AMERICA, AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD |author=David Benedict |year=1813 |publisher=Lincoln & Edmands |access-date=August 29, 2010}}</ref> As population increased in this part of the state, parts of the county were taken to organize new counties. In 1808 the western part of Buncombe County became [[Haywood County, North Carolina|Haywood County]]. In 1833 parts of Burke and Buncombe counties were combined to form [[Yancey County, North Carolina|Yancey County]]. In 1838 the southern part of what was left of Buncombe County became [[Henderson County, North Carolina|Henderson County]]. In 1851 parts of Buncombe and Yancey counties were combined to form [[Madison County, North Carolina|Madison County]]. Finally, in 1925 the Broad River township of [[McDowell County, North Carolina|McDowell County]] was transferred to Buncombe County. In 1820, a U.S. Congressman whose district included Buncombe County, unintentionally contributed a word to the English language. In the [[Sixteenth United States Congress|Sixteenth Congress]], after lengthy debate on the [[Missouri Compromise]], members of the [[United States House of Representatives|House]] called for an immediate vote on that important question. [[Felix Walker (American politician)|Felix Walker]] rose to address his colleagues, insisting that his constituents expected him to make a speech "for Buncombe." It was later remarked that Walker's untimely and irrelevant oration was not just ''for'' Buncombeโit "''was'' Buncombe." ''Buncombe,'' afterwards spelled ''[[wikt:bunkum|bunkum]]'' and later shortened to ''bunk,'' became a term for empty, nonsensical talk.<ref name="ahd">[http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/D0064600.html debunk โ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406173424/http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/D0064600.html |date=April 6, 2008 }}, [[Houghton Mifflin]], [[Boston]], accessed January 11, 2009</ref> That, in turn, is the [[etymology]] of the verb ''[[wikt:debunk|debunk]]''. In September 2024, [[Effects of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina|Hurricane Helene]] caused catastrophic, record-breaking flooding throughout Buncombe County and [[Western North Carolina]]. 47 deaths were recorded in Buncombe County as a result of the storm, the most of any county in the US. Prior to the storm, the county was classified by FEMA as being at low risk of deadly hurricanes.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fortin |first=Jacey |last2=Nostrant |first2=Rachel |last3=Taft |first3=Isabelle |last4=Underwood |first4=Nick |date=2025-02-04 |title=The Way Hurricanes Kill Is Changing. Helene Shows How. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/hurricane-helene-deaths.html |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
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