Where is swain county nc

Fontana Lake, a reservoir created by Fontana Dam , built during the New Deal, is a popular recreational area for swimming, boating, fishing, and hiking. Whitewater rafting on the Tuckasegee, Oconaluftee, and Little Tennessee Rivers is another popular activity in the county. Although tourism is the main source of revenue in Swain County, the county also gains income from forestry and from agricultural commodities such as burley tobacco, tomatoes, boxwoods, ornamentals and other nursery crops, Christmas trees, beef cattle, and dairy products.

Minerals in the county include kyanite, pegmatite, clay, feldspar, quartz, garnet, pyrite, magnetite, and thulite. Swain County is the site of several historic landmarks, among them Nantahala No. Prominent among the county's cultural institutions are the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the long-running outdoor drama Unto These Hills , presented in Cherokee and telling the story of the Eastern Cherokees' removal to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears.

In the estimated population of Swain County was 13, Listed below are archives in Swain County. For state-wide archival repositories, see North Carolina Archives and Libraries. Listed below are libraries in Swain County. For state-wide library facilities, see North Carolina Archives and Libraries. Listed below are societies in Swain County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see North Carolina Societies.

Memories Overview Gallery People Find. Sign in Create Account. Family Tree. From FamilySearch Wiki. United States. North Carolina. Swain County. North Carolina Online Genealogy Records. Adopt a page today. The Cherokees surrendered the remainder of the land in a treaty on February 27, Many years ago, the Cherokee people entered what is today called Swain County.

It is believed that they came from Virginia. They first settled in North Carolina around their primary town, called Cottawa, which was located in the area near present-day Bryson City.

It is very likely that the first contact between the Cherokee and the Europeans was when Hernando DeSoto explored this area in They were a powerful tribe and not particularly adverse to war. This fact, in addition to the rugged mountainous terrain were the principle reasons that this area of North Carolina remained unexplored and unsettled by the whites until the late s. William Bartram, an adventurous and courageous botanist, was one of the first white men to see what is present-day Swain County.

In , he came across the Nantahala Range and down the Briertown Mountains. An Act of the state legislature officially opened up western North Carolina to white settlers and the land around Bryson City was first explored for possible settlement just before the turn of the century. Missionaries, traders, and a few settlers soon followed. One of the earliest was Rev. Ulrich Keener, a methodist. He was followed by the Baptist and the Quakers, who came to preach and remained to settle the land.

Four scenic rivers, the Nantahala, the Tuckasegee, the Oconaluftee and the Little Tennessee flow through the county and form the sprawling Lake Fontana, west of Bryson City, the county seat.

Swain, governor of North Carolina from to The estimated population in was 13,