Wilkes County, North Carolina: History
At the time of first European contact in the region, the area which eventually became Wilkes County was occupied by the Cherokee and Catawba indigenous peoples. The first European settler, Christopher Gist, moved to the area in 1750.
The county was formed from parts of Surry County and the District of Washington by an act of the North Carolina General Assembly effective February 15, 1778. The chief lobbyist for its creation was Benjamin Cleveland, a Patriot militiaman of the American Revolution. It was named for John Wilkes, a British politician whom the Americans viewed as a proponent of liberty owing to his conflicts with the Tories in the British Parliament. The first county court was held at John Brown's house in March 1778, and thereafter several boards of commissioners were appointed to select a site for permanent government facilities. By 1801, a courthouse had been erected and the town of Wilkesborough was laid out around it. A portion of Burke County was annexed by Wilkes in 1789. Part of Wilkes was annexed by Surry in 1792. That year, a portion of Washington County, Tennessee, was ceded to North Carolina and incorporated into Wilkes. A portion of Wilkes was split off and joined with Iredell County in 1793. A section of Wilkes was split off in 1797 to form Ashe County.
Early economic activity in Wilkes chiefly comprised agriculture. Poor transportation links with the surrounding region limited the county's opportunities for trade. Wilkesborough was formally incorporated as Wilkesboro in 1847. In 1841, parts of Wilkes County and Burke County were combined to form Caldwell County. In 1847, another part of Wilkes County was combined with parts of Caldwell County and Iredell County to become Alexander County. In 1849, additional parts of Wilkes County and Caldwell County were combined with parts of Ashe County and Yancey County to form Watauga County. Numerous boundary adjustments were made thereafter. …