Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Happy Birthday, Avery County!

A little off topic, but important nevertheless. Avery County, the place I call home, was created 100 years ago by the General Assembly. We are North Carolina’s last county! While the county was not here in the 1860s, the area is rich in Civil War history, like the Cranberry Iron Mines; the home of Col. John B. Palmer, burnt during a raid in June 1864; and, the final resting places of Keith and Malinda Blalock. I’ll be speaking about local history this morning at Cranberry Middle School, and then giving tours this afternoon at the Avery County Historical Museum in Newland. The Museum will be open from 10:00 am until 5:30 pm. If you are in the area, stop by and say hi!

2 comments:

Jo Ann Wright said...

Hello! I'm a history buff from New Jersey but a best friend of mine hails from Avery County. He is from the Hughes family. We read your blog with the 20 questions and he tried to answer some, but we couldn't find the ansers to see if we were right. How can we get the answers! Good Blog! THANKS! Jo Ann Wright for David Hughes

Michael C. Hardy said...

1. (Col. John B. Palmer)

2. (Kirk’s Raid)

3. (Cranberry)

4. (Wise brothers)

5. (Banner Elk)

6. (Keith and Malinda Blalock)

7. (Turner Chambers)

8. (Childsville)

9. (Mary Martin Sloop)

10. (Palmer killed him)

11. T (Camp Mast)

12. (Leander Pyatt)

13. (Altamont)

14. (Henry Banner)

15. (6th North Carolina State Troops)

16. (Harvey Bingham)

17. (Aaron Von Cannon)

18. (Pine Grove)

19. (Lewis Banner)

20. (First Manassas)

How many did you get? Thanks for reading!