Alleghany County, North Carolina: History and Information

Alleghany County, North Carolina

Alleghany County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Sparta
Year Organized: 1859
Square Miles: 235

Court House:

PO Box 366
County Office Building
Sparta, NC 28675-0366

Etymology - Origin of County Name

It was named for an Indian tribe, and the name is derived from "a corruption of the Delaware Indian name for the Alleghany and Ohio Rivers and is said to have meant "a fine stream."

Demographics:

History

Alleghany was formed in 1859 from Ashe. It was named for an Indian tribe, and the name is derived from "a corruption of the Delaware Indian name for the Alleghany and Ohio Rivers and is said to have meant "a fine stream." It is in the northwestern section of the State and is bounded by the state of Virginia and Surry, Wilkes and Ashe counties. The present land area is 234.65 square miles and the 2000 population was 10,677. The act creating the county ordered the court to be held at Shiloah Church until the public buildings were erected unless otherwise directed by the justices of the peace. Commissioners were named to locate a site for the county seat at the geographical center of the county, acquire the land, establish the town of Sparta, and erect the courthouse. Sparta is the county seat.

Neighboring Counties:

State of Virginia

Surry

Wilkes

Ashe

Cities and Towns:

- Sparta (County Seat)

town

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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