History and formation of Swain County

European settlement began soon after the Cherokee Indian cession of 1798. These Europeans settled in the areas along the Oconaluftee and Tuckaseegee Rivers. The Cherokees surrendered the remainder of the land in a treaty on February 27, 1819. In 1871 the North Carolina General Assembly passed an act making Swain a North Carolina county, taking land from Jackson and Macon county. It was named for David L. Swain a former governor of North Carolina and president of the University of North Carolina.

The first court was held at Cold Spring Meeting House. Commissioners were to select a site for the courthouse and lay out a town named Charleston, to become the county seat. Charleston was renamed Bryson City in 1889 in honor of Colonel Thad Dillard Bryson.

Swain County began probating wills in 1876.

North Carolina in 1870 before Swain became a county

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This page was last updated Tuesday 20 September 2014