Editing Wilkes County, North Carolina (section)

==Notable people==
* [[Bobby Billings]] (born 1975), musician, singer and songwriter
* [[Rhoda Bryan Billings]] (1937) law professor and jurist, the second woman to serve as Chief Justice of the [[North Carolina Supreme Court]]
* [[Daniel Boone]] (1734–1820), explorer and pioneer, lived in Wilkes County for several years and married a Wilkes County native before moving west to [[Kentucky]].
* [[John Brown (North Carolina politician)|John Brown]] (1738–1812), militia [[captain (land)|captain]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], served as one of the [[North Carolina State Treasurer|state Treasurers]] (1782–1784), and served in the [[North Carolina]] [[North Carolina General Assembly|state legislature]] (1784–1787).
* [[Chang and Eng Bunker]] (1811–1874), [[Siamese twins]], who were a popular attraction in Asia, Europe, and North America in the nineteenth century, settled in Wilkes County in the 1850s, married two local sisters, and between them fathered 21 children.
* [[Robert Byrd]] (1917–2010), [[U.S. Senator]] from West Virginia 1959–2010; longest-serving Senator in American history.
* [[Sara Lou Harris Carter|Lady Sarah Lou Harris Carter]] (1923-2019), Pioneering African-American model who also became known as an entertainer, educator and humanitarian.
* [[Benjamin Cleveland]] (1738–1806), [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] in the North Carolina militia during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. He was one of the American commanders at the [[Battle of Kings Mountain]] in 1780.
* [[Dean Combs]] (1952) former [[NASCAR]] driver
* [[Tom Dula]] (Dooley) (1844–1868), Confederate veteran who was tried and hanged for the murder of his fiancée, Laura Foster; subject of the folk ballad "[[Tom Dooley (song)|Tom Dooley]]".<ref name="CB" />
* [[Jeffrey Elmore]] (1978) NC Politician
* [[Zach Galifianakis]] (born 1969), actor and comedian.
* [[George Allen Gilreath]] (1834–1863), a captain in the [[Confederate Army]] during the [[American Civil War]]; killed while commanding the regiment which advanced the farthest into enemy lines during [[Pickett's Charge]] at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]].
* [[James B. Gordon]] (1822–1864), a general of [[cavalry]] in the [[Confederate Army]] during the [[American Civil War]].
* [[Deneen Graham]] (born 1964), the first black woman to be crowned [[Miss North Carolina]] (1983).
* [[Gladys Gunzer]] (1939-2016) noted American medalist and [[Sculpture|sculptor]]
* [[Richard N. Hackett]] (1866-1923) [[United States House of Representatives|Congressional Representative]] from 1907 to 1909
* [[Jim Hamby]] (1897-1991), former [[MLB]] player
* [[Roger Hamby]] (born 1943), Former NASCAR driver and former team owner
* [[Johnson Jay Hayes]], (1886-1970) U.S. federal judge
* [[Junior Johnson]] (1931–2019), in the 1950s, Johnson became a legend in the rural South by consistently outrunning law-enforcement officials in auto chases while delivering homemade liquor ([[moonshine]]) to his customers. Johnson then became a champion [[NASCAR]] racer, winning 50 NASCAR races before his retirement and also winning 6 Winston Cup championships as a car owner.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Goldstein |first1=Richard |title=Junior Johnson, Good-Old-Boy Auto Racing Star, Is Dead at 88 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/sports/junior-johnson-dead.html |access-date=April 24, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=December 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221011013/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/sports/junior-johnson-dead.html |archive-date=December 21, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Sallie Chapman Gordon Law]] (1805–1894), first recorded Confederate nurse in the Civil War.
* [[William Ballard Lenoir]] (1751–1839), the first President of the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].
* [[Jimmy Pardue]] (1930-1964) former [[NASCAR]] driver
* [[Benny Parsons]] (1941–2007), NASCAR racer who won the 1973 NASCAR championship. After his retirement, he became a TV racing analyst.
* [[Harry Pearson (audio critic)|Harry Pearson]] (1937-2014) journalist, audio reviewer, and publisher who founded The Absolute Sound magazine
* [[James Larkin Pearson]] (1879–1981), poet and newspaper publisher who served as [[North Carolina Poet Laureate]] from 1953 to 1981.
* [[Shirley B. Randleman|Shirley Randleman]] (1950) NC State Representative and Senator, Also County commissioner.
* [[Waylon Reavis]] (born 1978), musician, lead vocalist of [[Cleveland|Cleveland, Ohio]] metal band [[Mushroomhead]].
* [[Shirrel Rhoades]] (born 1942), writer, publisher, professor, filmmaker, and the former executive vice president of [[Marvel Entertainment]].
* [[Eddie Settle]], member of the [[North Carolina Senate]]
* [[Morgan Shepherd]] (born 1941), NASCAR driver for over fifty years; oldest driver to lead at least one lap in a NASCAR race. He currently owns his own team in the [[NASCAR Xfinity Series]] as the [[Shepherd Racing Ventures]] team
* [[Montford Stokes]] (1762–1842), [[United States Senator]], Governor of [[North Carolina]] (1816–1832), appointed by President [[Andrew Jackson]] to lead the Federal Indian Commission in what is now [[Oklahoma]]; he is believed to be the only veteran of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] buried in that state.
* [[John Swofford]] (born 1948), Commissioner of the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]] (ACC) from 1997 to 2021; coordinator of the [[Bowl Championship Series]] (BCS) in college football.
* [[William Oliver Swofford]] (1945–2000), pop singer in the 1960s and 1970s (under the name ''[[Oliver (singer)|Oliver]]''), known for his hits ''[[Good Morning Starshine]]'' (featured in the Broadway musical ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]'') and ''[[Jean (song)|Jean]]'', the theme song of the Oscar-winning film ''[[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (film)|The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]]''.
* [[R. Tracy Walker|Tracy Walker]] (1939-2019) NC politician 

===Tom Dooley===
Wilkes County native [[Tom Dula]] (Dooley), a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War who was tried and hanged shortly after the war for the murder of his fiancée, Laura Foster. To this day many people believe that one of Dula's jealous ex-girlfriends murdered Laura Foster, that Dula was innocent of the crime, and that he accepted blame only to protect his former lover.<ref name="CB">{{cite web| url=http://criminalbrief.com/?p=11062| title=Who Killed Laura Foster? |last=Lundin|first=Leigh| date=February 21, 2010| work=Tom Dula| publisher=Criminal Brief}}</ref>

The case was given nationwide publicity by newspapers such as ''[[The New York Times]]'' and the ''[[New York Herald]]'', and thus became a folk legend in the rural South. Dula's legend was popularized in 1958 by the top-selling [[Kingston Trio]] song "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley." Dula's story was also turned into a 1959 movie starring [[Michael Landon]] as Dula, and each summer Bleu Moon Productions presents an outdoor drama based on the story.

In 2001, Tom Dula was ceremonially acquitted of all charges by the county.<ref name="CB" />