Ramseytown, formerly known as Ramsaytown and Ramsey Town Baptist Church, is an unincorporated community in far northern

Yancey County, North Carolina Yancey County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,470. Its county seat is Burnsville. This land was inhabited by the Cherokee prior to European settlement, as was much of the S ...

, on the

Cane River Cane River (''Rivière aux Cannes'') is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 3, 2011 formed from a portion of the Red River that is located in Natchitoches Pa ...

. Yancey County's Ramseytown Township derives its name from the settlement.

History

A U.S. Post Office bearing the name of Ramsaytown was established on November 5, 1852, with the first postmaster being Abraham Whitsen. It ceased operations on February 29, 1956. The community was incorporated by the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

on February 11, 1874 as Ramsey Town Baptist Church, and the municipal limits were defined as a circle of one mile in radius, centered on the local baptist church. It was disincorporated on an unknown date. Alcoholic beverages consisting of 21% alcohol by volume or greater were illegal in the town, and the municipality's council was composed of five members. During World War I, five men from Ramseytown were drafted. The official name of the town, as recognized by the federal government, was changed from Ramsaytown to Ramseytown on January 1, 1931. On April 21, 1948, local railroad engineer Clarence Davenport (July 24, 1894–April 21, 1948) was killed in a boiler explosion near Ramseytown, described as one of the worst locomotive explosions in United States history at the time. The locomotive's fireman also perished in the blast. The community was home to the Ramsey Mine.

Transportation and infrastructure

U.S. Route 19W U.S. Route 19W (US 19W) traverses approximately from Cane River, North Carolina to Bluff City, Tennessee. Route description US 19W begins in western Yancey County in the community of Cane River, at the intersection of US 19/ US 19E. ...

runs through the community. The community was formerly served by the Clinchfield Railroad. Ramseytown shares a fire department, the Egypt-Ramseytown Volunteer Fire Department, with the nearby unincorporated community of Egypt, North Carolina. The department receives $21,037.50 in funding from the State of North Carolina as of 2023.

Weather

Ramseytown was the site of an EF1 tornado during the Tornado outbreak sequence of August 4–8, 2023. Tornadoes are exceptionally rare in the area.

References

{{YanceyCountyNC-geo-stub