Recently, I attempted to give a short geography lesson to a new resident of North Carolina. As we were discussing the locations of various counties and cities, I was reminded of how many towns and cities were not in the county one would suspect. To name a few….
- Davidson (town) is not in Davidson County…it is in Mecklenburg County.
- Henderson (town) is not in Henderson County…it is in Vance County.
- Hertford (town) is not in Hertford County…it is in Perquimans County.
- Lenoir (town) is not in Lenoir County…it is in Caldwell County.
- Rockingham (town) is not in Rockingham County…it is in Richmond County.
- Yanceyville (town) is not in Yancey County…it is in Caswell County.
- Neither Asheboro nor Asheville is in Ashe County. They are (respectively) in Randolph and Buncombe Counties.
I am not sure of the reason or reasons behind this, though I have had at least one idea emailed to me. If you’ve got a theory, float it our way.