Local History

Burke County and its largest city, Morganton, extend a warm welcome to all newcomers. There's something special here for just about everyone. From the abundant forests, rolling hills and 154 miles of shoreline on Lake James (where the movie, "The Last of The Mohicans" was filmed) to 90 miles of shoreline on Lake Rhodhiss and the Blue Ridge Mountains, Morganton and Burke County offer a beautiful place to live and do business.

The largest county in western North Carolina, nestled at the foot of the glorious Blue Ridge Mountains, Burke County occupies 511 square miles. Morganton serves as Burke's county seat and hub of cultural, governmental and commercial activities. Bisected by the Catawba River with views of majestic Table Rock, Morganton's natural beauty is unsurpassed.

A long-standing theory says that more than four centuries ago Spanish explorers ventured into the foothills of what is now North Carolina. They stayed long enough to possibly change the course of European settlement in the New World, and then vanished into the fog of time, the story says.

Until recently historians regarded a 16th-century Spanish presence this far north in North America as more theory than fact. But archaeologists working in a farm field near the tiny community of Worry Crossroads might change that perception. Scholars have debated the routes of Soto and Pardo for years but archaeological investigations at the Berry site (31BK22), north of Morganton in Burke County, provide evidence that both of these Spanish expeditions passed through the Catawba River valley.

The Berry site is a large (nearly 12 acres) Mississippian site that dates to the Burke phase (15th and 16th centuries A.D.) and is believed to represent an ancestral Catawba Indian town. This site is believed to be the location of the native town of Joara, at which Pardo built Fort San Juan in 1567 (20 years before the "Lost Colony). Excavations have revealed the presence of four burned structures in the area which may represent the remains of the Spanish compound, FortSan Juan. Pardo also renamed the Native settlement Cuenca, after his hometown in Spain. Quenca and Fort San Juan represent the earliest European settlement in the interior of North America.

David Moore of Warren Wilson College and students work the site during the summer months. To view images from the 2001-2005 field schools at the Berry site visit www.warren-wilson.edu/~arch/fieldschoolinfo. (Moore received his MA and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and served as the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology's Western Office archaeologist for 18 years before becoming a full-time faculty member at Warren Wilson College.)

Prior to the middle of the 18th century, the region now known as Burke County was a wilderness serving as hunting ground for the Catawba and Cherokee tribes. In 1750, the Great Southern Migration of Scotch-Irish and German settlers began. It was temporarily halted by the French and Indian War, but resumed until the eve of the American Revolution.

In 1777 the people petitioned the North Carolina Assembly for formation of a new county, which was named after patriot Thomas Burke, who became the third governor of the state.

Established in 1777 and incorporated 1784, Morganton was named for General Daniel Morgan of Revolutionary War fame. Its first name was Morganborough which was later changed to Morganton.

The town of Morganton was established in 1784 as the site of a circuit court for the North Carolina frontier. A post office was established in 1795, and an East/West road (now Highway 70) stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Tennessee was soon built. From 1847 until the outbreak of the Civil War, the local courthouse hosted the summer session of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Government was suspended just after the Civil War, but the Charter was revised and fully reinstated by the General Assembly in 1885. Morganton is the county seat of and largest city in Burke County.

There was never a slave market in Morganton, however, William Walton Jr., a merchant living in Charleston until 1808, sent slaves that had recently arrived from Africa to his Burke County plantation along the Johns River. There they were taught to speak English and to farm using American methods, and then they were sold to plantation owners. After 1850, an agent, Z.D. Lancaster, made his headquarters here.

Because of its prominence as a "court town," two of the State's largest institutions, Broughton Hospital for the mentally ill and the NC School for the Deaf were located in the City in the late 19th century. Today, it is also home to J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center, a research/residential facility for people with developmental disabilities, as well as to correctional facilities for male youth and adults.

A fire destroyed many of the wooden commercial structures in downtown Morganton in 1893. Within a few years, the mercantile and retail stores were rebuilt and, except for some facade improvements, remain much the same in appearance even today.

Morganton can best be described by the word "progressive. It was one of the first municipalities in the State to provide its own electric system. Public education began in the early 1900's; classes met in the town hall and at the First United Methodist Church.

Prior to the turn of the 20th Century, Waldenses from the Cottian Alps of Italy settled in nearby Valdese. Valdese, is the second largest town in the county. It was founded in 1893 by the Waldensian pioneers who escaped generations of religious persecution in the Cottian Alps of Northern Italy to settle here. Valdese (derived from the Italian word Valdesi, which means "Waldensian") was incorporated in 1920. The story of the Waldenses is unique in the history of North Carolina. A European ambiance is still evident in the downtown. Alba Waldensian Hosiery and Waldensian Bakeries rank as two of the largest industries in the county. (www.ci.valdese.nc.us)

Beginning in the 1970's, an influx of Hmong immigrants came to escape political persecution. In the 90's, Hispanic men and women from Central America, seeking economic opportunities, migrated here to work in poultry, textiles, and furniture industries.

Recent historical events include Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr. of Morganton serving as chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee. Senator Ervin, a longtime advocate of individual liberties, was an admired authority on the Constitution and Constitutional Law. His library has been reconstructed on the campus of Western Piedmont Community College and is open to the public.

The original site for classes for Western Piedmont Community College was in the City Hall basement. The campus is located inside the city limits. Following a bond referendum in 1985, the City built the City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium (CoMMA), site of Broadway productions as well as fundraisers for local charities and graduation ceremonies. Although it has a staff of four, its strongest component is a volunteer force of 90 provided through our American Association of Retired Persons chapter. Morganton operates its own cable television system (CoMPAS), which offers a variety of programming to 90% of City households.

In 1926, recognizing the need to protect its water supply, Morganton purchased 6,000 acres of land in a nearby mountainous watershed. In the early 1990's as state and federal governments shut down private watersheds, Morganton transferred the acreage to the State for protection of the watershed and for a large park for outdoor and recreational use.

Morganton was the first city in North Carolina to adopt the City Manager form of government; and in 1998, named its first female City Manager, Sally Sandy. The governing body, the City Council, consists of the Mayor and four elected council members.