Clay County, North Carolina: History
=== Early inhabitants ===
The area that became Clay County has long been occupied by indigenous people. An earthwork platform mound was built around 1000 AD in modern-day Hayesville, likely by people of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture as the center of their village. The Cherokee Native Americans later constructed a town known as Quanassee at the site. Quanassee had several hundred residents by 1550. In 1716, South Carolina officials met with Cherokee leaders at Quanassee to gain the Cherokee's alliance in the Yamassee War. The next year South Carolina built a trading site in Quanassee to provide English goods in exchange for Cherokee commodities like deerskins. A Coosa (Creek) war party "cut off" Quanassee in 1725, wrecking the village and enslaving or killing most of its residents. The village was briefly reestablished before the American Revolution; Rutherford expedition forces camped there in 1776.
The Unicoi Turnpike, a 1,000-year-old Native American trading route, ran through the site of Quanassee and modern-day Brasstown. In 1813, the trail was developed into a toll road from Tennessee to Georgia, creating the first highway through the area. Today Brasstown is the oldest continuous settlement in the county, having hosted residents since the establishment of the toll road.
The land which would become Clay County was claimed by Buncombe County in 1791, Haywood County by 1810, and Macon County in 1828. In the 1820s, Baptist missionaries visited Quanassee to preach to families living there. The first white settlers moved into what would become Clay County in the early 1830s. Migrants into the area were primarily of Scots-Irish descent, who had moved into the backcountry of the Appalachians from eastern areas. They moved south from Pennsylvania and Virginia after the American Revolution. Most became yeomen farmers and few owned slaves in the antebellum years. The first school in the area began operation in 1834. It was a tuition-based academy started by Leonard Butterfield on a farm near Hyatt's Creek. From 1836–1838, the state of North Carolina surveyed and subdivided land in the area to be sold. The parcels were put on public sale in Franklin in fall 1838.
In October 1837, Tennessee militia established Fort Hembree at present-day Hayesville to prepare for deporting the Cherokee people. Approximately 1,000 Cherokee were held prisoner there and removed from the area. The U.S. Military abandoned Fort Hembree in June 1838. In 1839, most of the area became part of Cherokee County, which was formed from western Macon County. Clay County's oldest remaining church, Hayesville Presbyterian Church, was built in 1848. Three Clay County structures from the 1800s (Shooting Creek's John Davis cabin, Warne's Ingram Mule Barn, and Tusquittee's Abner Moore House) are now on display at the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center in Mountain City, Georgia. …