Nash County, North Carolina: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 13:40, 21 March 2025

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Nash County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94,970.<ref name="2020CensusQuickFacts"/> Its county seat is Nashville.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref>

Nash County is part of the Rocky Mount, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The area eventually comprising Nash County was originally organized as a part of Edgecombe County. Settlement first occurred in the 1740s;Template:Sfn the earliest land grants date to 1743.<ref name= history>Template:Cite web</ref> As the population of Edgecombe increased, citizens in the western portion of the county found it difficult to travel to the county seat of Tarboro to conduct official business. Legislator Nathan Boddie proposed to the North Carolina Provincial Congress that the county be divided.Template:Sfn As a result, Nash was formed from all parts of Edgecombe west of the Falls of the Tar River in 1777.Template:Sfn<ref name= kelley/><ref name= olds>Template:Cite news</ref> It was named for American Revolutionary War Brigadier General Francis Nash, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Germantown.Template:Sfn The first session of the county court met on April 1, 1778, in the home of Micajah Thomas. Court was then held in a temporary building at Peach Tree until a permanent courthouse was erected in Nashville in 1784.<ref name= olds/> Nashville was formally designated the seat of county government in 1815Template:Sfn and was incorporated in 1823.Template:Sfn In 1833, the county's first courthouse burned down and was replaced by a brick building.Template:Sfn

In 1786, the state of North Carolina conducted a census which recorded a total population of 5,277 in Nash County. The first U.S. Census in 1790 recorded a total population of 7,393, of whom 2,099 were slaves, 183 were free blacks, and the rest whites.<ref name= olds/> Several early communities in Nash County developed as stops along stagecoach routes, including Dortches, Red Oak, Stanhope, Hilliardston, and Castalia.Template:Sfn Settlement also occurred along rivers and creeks, accompanied by the construction of gristmills.Template:Sfn In the 1830s the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad was laid, leading to further settlement. The building of a spur line in 1840 led to the eventual creation of the community of Whitakers.Template:Sfn By the 1860s, Nash County had a population over 11,600 and an economy centered on agriculture.Template:Sfn In 1855, parts of Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, and Wayne counties were combined to form Wilson County.Template:Sfn Over 1,000 men from the county fought in the American Civil War.Template:Sfn

In 1871, after significant political controversy, all parts of Edgecombe County west of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad were annexed to NashTemplate:Sfn<ref name= kelley/> leading to the bifurcation of the Edgecombe communities of Battleboro and Sharpsburg between the two counties.<ref name= kelley/> As a result of the boundary shift, Nash County's black population grew<ref name= fernelius>Template:Cite web</ref> and a greater portion of the town of Rocky Mount also lay within Nash County's border, including Rocky Mount Mills, the second textile mill to exist within in the state.<ref name= kelley>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1899, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad established repair shops in Rocky Mount, precipitating the city's rapid growth.Template:Sfn In 1921 the county's third courthouse was built.Template:Sfn

Geography

Template:Maplink Nash County rests in the northeastern part of North Carolina<ref name= history/> along the dividing line between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions.Template:Sfn According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (0.44%) is covered by water.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Elevation in the county gradually rises from the east to the west.Template:Sfn

State and local protected areas

Flower Hill Nature Preserve (part)
Sandy Creek Game Land (part)<ref name="NCWRC Game Lands">Template:Cite web</ref>
Shocco Creek Game Land (part)<ref name="NCWRC Game Lands"/>

Major water bodies

Adjacent counties

Major highways

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Major infrastructure

Rocky Mount-Wilson Regional Airport

Demographics

2020 census

Nash County racial composition<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	46,317	48.77%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	36,679	38.62%
Native American	615	0.65%
Asian	904	0.95%
Pacific Islander	28	0.03%
Other/Mixed	3,105	3.27%
Hispanic or Latino	7,322	7.71%

As of the 2020 census, there were 94,970 people, 37,574 households, and 27,002 families residing in the county.

Demographic change

Historical population

Template:US Census population

After decades of growth, between 2010 and 2020, Nash County recorded an almost one percent population loss.<ref name= Barkin1>Template:Cite news</ref>

Government and politics

Government

Nash County is run by a commission–manager government. Legislative and policy-making power is vested in a seven-member board of commissioners, with the commissioners elected in districts to serve four-year staggered terms. The board passes ordinances, adopts the county budget, and appoints the county manager. The manager wields executive authority over county administration, appoints directors of county government departments, and implement the commission's decisions. County government provides various services, including public safety, social services, cultural activities, and the provision of utilities.Template:Sfn

Nash County is represented in the General Assembly by the Senate's 11th district and the House of Representatives' 24th and 25th districts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 8th Prosecutorial District, the 8A Superior Court District, and the 8th District Court District.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Nash County is a member of the regional Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments.

Politics

From the turn of the 20th century North Carolina established barriers that effectively disfranchised the large black population, which had been supporting Republican candidates. Conservative whites voted overwhelmingly Democratic and the county and state were part of the resulting political "Solid South" county. Although it gave a plurality to Populist candidate James B. Weaver in 1892, unlike Sampson County or Alabama's Chilton County, it did not subsequently turn to the Republican Party.

Nash County would vote Democratic in every election from 1896 to 1964 – in Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman's five elections, the Republicans never received eleven percent of the county's limited electorate's ballots. Many whites supported George Wallace's American Independent candidacy in 1968, after passage of the Voting Rights Act. More voted Republican for the first time in 1972.

While Nash voters supported favorite son and Southern Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, the county's majority white voters shifted to Republican candidates from 1980 to 2004. But the last four elections have been closely contested. The margin of victory has been less than 1,000 votes in every election since.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nash County has emerged in recent years as a swing county and a bellwether county. As of 2024, it is the only North Carolina county to support the winning U.S. presidential election four times in a row, supporting Barack Obama in 2012, Donald Trump in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and Trump in 2024. In 2024, it also split its majority vote between Republican and Democratic statewide candidates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Sheriff

The Sheriff's Office provides police services for the unincorporated areas of the county.

Economy

As of 2023, the biggest sectors in Nash County's economy were manufacturing, healthcare and social services, retail, food and accommodation services, and education.Template:Sfn The largest private employer is Hospira, which operates a vaccine manufacturing facility in Rocky Mount.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Sweetpotato harvest in Nash County, North Carolina.jpg

Sweet potato harvest in Nash County

As of 2023, over 40 percent of the county's area is cultivated farmland. Its top agricultural products are poultry, eggs, tobacco, and sweet potatoes.Template:Sfn Nash is one of the top sweet potato-producing counties in the state.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>