McDowell County History

As you take a drive or a hike among the hills here, you may imagine the footfall of the first inhabitants. Native American tribes discovered the area over 6,000 years ago and later frontier settlers in the early 1700’s made McDowell County the western outpost of civilization in America until the Revolutionary War. Today the independent pioneer spirit is a proud heritage here, and descendants of some of the first settlers still reside in the region.

In the early 1700’s, Ulster Scots and German settlers were drawn here by the fertile Catawba River basin. These sturdy hunters and cattle-drivers evicted the native Cherokee and Catawba Indians, formed a close community protected by a series of forts, and were followed by numerous subsistence farmers. During the Revolutionary War, rugged “Overmountain Men” marched through; portions of the trail in McDowell County are accessible today. Each year the Overmountain Victory March from Abingdon, VA to Kings Mt., NC commemorates the important role these men played in the defeat of British General Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of King’s Mountain, considered by many the turning point in the Revolutionary War.

Between 1804-1827, the area was central to the state’s reputation as the nation’s leader in gold production prior to the California gold rush.
McDowell County was formally organized in 1843 at the home of Colonel John Carson, described below by Dr. James Haney (used by permission from McDowell County, North Carolina, 1843-1943.):

"On March 13, 1843, a group of local propertied men met at the Buck Creek home of Col. John Carson and initiated the organization of McDowell County. The new county was named for Col. Joseph McDowell, scion of a highly respected family of local pioneers and hero of the American Revolution at the Battle of King’s Mountain.

"The first county court was called to order in the Carson House, which functioned as the seat of county government of the next two years. A county seat was laid out by surveyors near the geographical center of the county two years later and named Marion, in honor of another Revolutionary War hero, Gen. Francis Marion. On May 12, 1845, the doors of an imposing courthouse were opened, and McDowell County was governed from this building for 78 years until it was replaced in 1923."

Carson House Highlights:

• Constructed circa 1793 by Col. Carson of foot-square walnut logs harvested from nearby Buck Creek
• The eight original hand-carved mantels remain today, as do paneled eaves and elaborately fluted door and window facings created by Col. Carson’s son, Jonathan Carson.
• During 1843-45, the quarterly court sessions drew crowds and became social events where food and whiskey were sold and passed about.
• Carson House served as a stagecoach inn and social center. It was a notable stopping point for historical figures, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas. Andrew Jackson, the 7th U.S. president, visited Carson House and once lost money gambling on the horses that raced at the Carson plantation.
• A written account by Emma Rankin, resident schoolteacher for the Carson children, details events at the old plantation when Yankee soldiers, called Stoneman’s Raiders, camped nearby. A skirmish occurred and the house was sacked and looted. The Raiders attempted to burn the house by starting a fire on the front porch, but the ladies were able to extinguish it. Today an interpretive Civil War marker is located on the grounds to commemorate this event.
• Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as a museum open to the public.

Pioneer and early-American history is also commemorated at Old Fort’s Mountain Gateway Museum, which includes two 130 year-old log cabins on the grounds.

Notable former resident of Marion: Dan Kanipe, the only survivor of the Gen. George Custer’s unit in the Battle of Little Big Horn.