Nash County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94,970. Its

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 ...

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Nash County is part of the Rocky Mount, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The area eventually comprising Nash County was originally organized as a part of Edgecombe County. Settlement first occurred in the 1740s; the earliest

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

s date to 1743. As the population of Edgecombe increased, citizens in the western portion of the county found it difficult to travel to the county seat of

Tarboro Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 10,721. It is the county seat of Edgecombe County. The town is o ...

to conduct official business. Legislator Nathan Boddie proposed to the

North Carolina Provincial Congress The Provincial Congress of North Carolina was an extralegal representative assembly patterned after the colonial lower house that existed in North Carolina from 1774 to 1776. It led the transition from British provincial to U.S. state govern ...

that the county be divided. As a result, Nash was formed from all parts of Edgecombe west of the Falls of the Tar River in 1777. It was named for

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

Brigadier General

Francis Nash Francis Nash (October 7, 1777) was a brigadier general (United States), brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Prior to the war, he was a lawyer, public official, and politician in Hillsborough, North ...

, who was mortally wounded at the

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American ...

. The first session of the county court met on April 1, 1778, in the home of Micajah Thomas. Court was then held in a temporary building at Peach Tree until a permanent courthouse was erected in

in 1784. Nashville was formally designated the seat of county government in 1815 and was incorporated in 1823. In 1833, the county's first courthouse burned down and was replaced by a brick building. In 1786, the state of North Carolina conducted a census which recorded a total population of 5,277 in Nash County. The first U.S. Census in 1790 recorded a total population of 7,393, of whom 2,099 were slaves, 183 were free blacks, and the rest whites. Several early communities in Nash County developed as stops along stagecoach routes, including Dortches, Red Oak, Stanhope, Hilliardston, and Castalia. Settlement also occurred along rivers and creeks, accompanied by the construction of gristmills. In the 1830s the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad was laid, leading to further settlement. The building of a spur line in 1840 led to the eventual creation of the community of Whitakers. By the 1860s, Nash County had a population over 11,600 and an economy centered on agriculture. In 1855, parts of Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, and Wayne counties were combined to form Wilson County. Over 1,000 men from the county fought in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. In 1871, after significant political controversy, all parts of Edgecombe County west of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad were annexed to Nash leading to the bifurcation of the Edgecombe communities of Battleboro and Sharpsburg between the two counties. As a result of the boundary shift, Nash County's black population grew and a greater portion of the town of Rocky Mount also lay within Nash County's border, including Rocky Mount Mills, the second textile mill to exist within in the state. In 1899, the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast ...

established repair shops in Rocky Mount, precipitating the city's rapid growth. In 1921 the county's third courthouse was built.

Geography

Nash County rests in the northeastern part of North Carolina along the dividing line between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions. According to the

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

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.44%) is covered by water. Elevation in the county gradually rises from the east to the west.

State and local protected areas

* Flower Hill Nature Preserve (part) * Sandy Creek Game Land (part) * Shocco Creek Game Land (part)

Major water bodies

* Fishing Creek * Moccasin Creek * Pig Basket Creek * Sapony Creek * Stoney Creek * Swift Creek * Tar River * Tar River Reservoir * Toisnot Swamp * Turkey Creek

Adjacent counties

* Franklin County * Johnston County * Wilson County * Edgecombe County * Halifax County

Major highways

* * * * * * (Nashville) * (Rocky Mount) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Major infrastructure

* Rocky Mount-Wilson Regional Airport

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 94,970 people, 37,574 households, and 27,002 families residing in the county.

Demographic change

After decades of growth, between 2010 and 2020, Nash County recorded an almost one percent population loss.

Government and politics

Government

Nash County is run by a commission–manager government. Legislative and policy-making power is vested in a seven-member board of commissioners, with the commissioners elected in districts to serve four-year staggered terms. The board passes ordinances, adopts the county budget, and appoints the county manager. The manager wields executive authority over county administration, appoints directors of county government departments, and implement the commission's decisions. County government provides various services, including public safety, social services, cultural activities, and the provision of utilities. Nash County is represented in the General Assembly by the Senate's 11th district and the House of Representatives' 24th and 25th districts. It lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 8th Prosecutorial District, the 8A

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

District, and the 8th

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

District. Nash County is a member of the regional Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments.

Politics

From the turn of the 20th century North Carolina established barriers that effectively disfranchised the large black population, which had been supporting Republican candidates. Conservative whites voted overwhelmingly Democratic and the county and state were part of the resulting political "

Solid South The Solid South was the electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the aftermath of the Co ...

" county. Although it gave a plurality to

Populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

candidate James B. Weaver in 1892, unlike Sampson County or Alabama's

Chilton County Chilton County is a County (United States), county located in the Central Alabama, central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 45,014. The county seat is Clanton, Alabama, C ...

, it did not subsequently turn to the Republican Party. Nash County would vote Democratic in every election from 1896 to 1964 – in

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

's five elections, the Republicans never received eleven percent of the county's limited electorate's ballots. Many whites supported

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

's American Independent candidacy in 1968, after passage of the Voting Rights Act. More voted Republican for the first time in 1972. While Nash voters supported favorite son and Southern Democrat

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

in 1976, the county's majority white voters shifted to Republican candidates from 1980 to 2004. But the last four elections have been closely contested. The margin of victory has been less than 1,000 votes in every election since. Nash County has emerged in recent years as a swing county and a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Re ...

county. As of 2024, it is the only North Carolina county to support the winning U.S. presidential election four times in a row, supporting

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

in 2012,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in 2016,

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

in 2020, and Trump in 2024. In 2024, it also split its majority vote between Republican and Democratic statewide candidates.

Sheriff

The Sheriff's Office provides police services for the unincorporated areas of the county.

Economy

As of 2023, the biggest sectors in Nash County's economy were manufacturing, healthcare and social services, retail, food and accommodation services, and education. The largest private employer is Hospira, which operates a vaccine manufacturing facility in Rocky Mount. As of 2023, over 40 percent of the county's area is cultivated farmland. Its top agricultural products are poultry, eggs, tobacco, and sweet potatoes. Nash is one of the top sweet potato-producing counties in the state.

Communities

Map of Nash County North Carolina With Municipal and Township Labels

Cities

* Rocky Mount (largest community; parts located in Edgecombe County)

Towns

* Bailey * Castalia * Dortches *

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

* Momeyer *

(county seat) * Red Oak * Spring Hope * Sharpsburg (part) * Whitakers (part) * Zebulon (part) * Elm City (part)

Townships

* Bailey * Castalia * Coopers * Dry Wells * Ferrells * Griffins * Jackson * Mannings * Nashville * North Whitakers * Oak Level * Red Oak * Rocky Mount * Spring Hope * South Whitakers * Stony Creek

Unincorporated community

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

Notes

References

Works cited

* * * *

External links

*
NCGenWeb Nash County
genealogy resources for the county {{Authority control Rocky Mount metropolitan area 1777 establishments in North Carolina Populated places established in 1777 Majority-minority counties in North Carolina