Brevard ( ) is a city and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Transylvania County, North Carolina Transylvania County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population is 32,986. Its county seat is Brevard, North Carolina, Brevard. Transylvania County co ...

, United States, with a population of 7,609 as of the 2010 census. Brevard is located at the entrance to

Pisgah National Forest Pisgah National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. The P ...

and has become a noted tourism, retirement and cultural center in western North Carolina. A moderate climate, environmental beauty and cultural activities attracts retirees to the area. Brevard is also known for its white squirrels. There are several theories of how they came to live there, including an overturned carnival truck and an escaped pet breeding with native squirrels. Along with nearby Asheville and Hendersonville, Brevard forms the Asheville-Brevard, NC CSA combined statistical area.

History

According to the Transylvania Heritage Museum, the North Carolina General Assembly apportioned Transylvania County on February 15, 1861, from lands previously attributed to neighboring Jackson and Henderson counties. In the county's creation, a county seat was required to be conveniently accessible to most of the county's citizens. Its namesake was to honor Colonel Ephraim Brevard, M.D., a reputed Revolutionary War veteran.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of 5.12 square miles, of which 0% is water.

Climate

Brevard is located in a

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are rainforests with coniferous or Broad-leaved tree, broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rainforests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate ...

and has a climate that borders between a humid subtropical and

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

and receives abundant rainfall year round due to orographic lift due to its location in the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the United States, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern ...

and the nearby

Great Balsam Mountains The Great Balsam Mountains, or Balsam Mountains, are in the Western North Carolina, mountain region of western North Carolina, United States. The Great Balsams are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which in turn are a part of the Appalachi ...

. It is one of the wettest towns in the US outside of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

. It is also common for the town to get small amounts of snow in the winter. The town does not have any dry season, but fall gets the least amount of rain of all the seasons.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,744 people, 3,530 households, and 2,005 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 7,609 people, 3,253 households, and 1,711 families residing in the city. The population density was . The racial makeup of the city was 83.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 11.0%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.3% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.07%, 0.46% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.7% of the population. There were 2,826 households, out of which 21.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.9% were non-families. 36.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12, and the average family size was 2.73. The population was distributed broadly among different age groups, with 18.3% under the age of 18, 12.3% from 18 to 24, 19.9% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 28.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 79.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $33,497, and the median income for a family was $44,489. Males had a median income of $26,929 versus $21,348 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $18,256. About 7.61% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.0% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

White Squirrel Festival takes place on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday preceding Memorial Day. It features the white Squirrel, Pisgah Pete, live music, arts & crafts, and food. The white variant of the eastern gray squirrel ('' Sciurus carolinensis'') is commonly seen around Brevard.

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

is a major event in Brevard. The celebrations include an annual fireworks display and a car judging competition. Streets downtown are blocked off for a festival including games, arts and crafts, concerts and food vendors. Halloweenfest takes place on the last Saturday of October in downtown Brevard. Brevard is located in Transylvania County and it shows up in the enthusiasm seen in the costumes during the event. Live music, other street performers, arts & crafts, Flight of the Vampires 5K Run, pet costume contest, haunted house, ghost tour, and other activities happen all day. Twilight Tour: Early in the morning runners come out for the Reindeer Run 5K Run. Street vendors appear in the afternoon after downtown is closed to traffic. The Christmas Parade proceeds down South Broad Street around 3pm, starting at Brevard High School and ending at Brevard College. After the parade, Twilight Tour takes place with, horse-drawn carriages, luminaries, seasonal music, and food in the many downtown shops & restaurants.

Education

Transylvania County Schools has two public high schools: Brevard High School and Rosman High School. The system also has an alternative high school in Davidson River School. There are four elementary schools and two middle schools. There is also one charter school, Brevard Academy, and several smaller private schools. Brevard College, a four-year liberal arts institution, is located in Brevard. The town is also home to the Brevard Music Center, and to a campus of the Blue Ridge Community College. During the summer Brevard holds a distance runners camp at Brevard College.

Notable people

* Kevin S. Brown (born 1968) Episcopal bishop of Delaware * Joseph R. Bryson (1893–1953) member of U.S. House of Representatives * Gil Coan (1922–2020)

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

outfielder * Spencer Fisher (born 1976) mixed martial artist * Courtney W. Hamlin (1858–1950) member of U.S. House of Representatives * James A. Hefner (1941–2015) former president, Tennessee State University (son of Art Hefner) * Clifford B. Hicks (1920–2010) author * Allen Hunt (born 1964) radio personality *

Randy Johnson Randall David Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed, "the Big Unit," is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2009) for six teams, primarily the Seattle Mariners and Arizo ...

(1944–2009) football player * Moms Mabley (1894–1975) stand-up comedian * Mickey Marvin (1955–2017) football player, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders * Cliff Melton (1912–1986) Major League Baseball pitcher *

Lauren Myracle Lauren Myracle (born May 15, 1969) is an American writer of young adult fiction. She has written many novels, including the three best-selling "IM" books, ''ttyl (novel), ttyl'', ''ttfn (novel), ttfn'' and ''l8r, g8r''. Her book ''Thirteen Plus O ...

(born 1969) author * James Champlin "Champ" Osteen (1877–1962) Major League baseball infielder * Woody Platt bluegrass musician *

Marie M. Runyon Marie M. Runyon (March 20, 1915 – October 7, 2018) was an American activist and former New York State Legislator from New York (state), New York. Early life Marie Runyon (born Marie Morgan) was born on March 20, 1915, in Brevard, North Carolin ...

(1915–2018) activist and politician * O. K. Smathers (1914–1997) world champion archer * Charles H. Taylor (born 1941) former member of U.S. House of Representatives * Charles O'Rear (born 1941) photographer of ''

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C ...

'', the default wallpaper of Windows XP

Sister city

Brevard has one

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

, as designated by

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the goal of facilitating partnerships between communities within the United States and other countries by establishing sister cities. Sister cities are agreements of ...

: *

Pietroasa, Bihor Pietroasa ("stony" in Romanian; ) is a commune in Bihor County, Crișana, Romania with a population of 3,209 people. It is composed of seven villages: Chișcău (''Kiskoh''), Cociuba Mică (''Felsőkocsoba''), Giulești (''Zsulest''), Gurani (''Gu ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Local Sculptor To Depart For Brevard's Sister City In Romania
''The Transylvania Times''. Retrieved Jul 22, 2020.

References

{{authority control Cities in North Carolina Cities in Transylvania County, North Carolina County seats in North Carolina Populated places established in 1861 North Carolina populated places on the French Broad River