County Past
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Davidson County, North Carolina

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
61historic places
—earliest paper
1822formed
168,930pop. 2020
28cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 61 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1971. Most listings are in or near Lexington, Thomasville, Denton.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for North Carolina is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Davidson titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

30 of 61 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

61 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Abbott's Creek Primitive Baptist Church CemeteryThomasvilleSite1984
Adderton - Badgett HouseDentonBuilding1984
BeallmontLinwoodBuilding1984
Beck's Reformed Church CemeterySilver HillSite1984
Bethany Reformed and Lutheran Church CemeteryMidwaySite1984
Beulah Church of Christ CemeteryWelcomeSite1984
Brummell's InnThomasvilleBuilding1980
Chapel Hill Church TabernacleDentonBuilding2012
Church Street SchoolThomasvilleBuilding1990
City Memorial Hospital and Nurses' HomeThomasvilleBuilding2025
Dunbar High SchoolLexingtonBuilding2026
Emanuel United Church of Christ CemeteryThomasvilleSite1984
Erlanger Mill Village Historic DistrictLexingtonDistrict2008
Everhart, Hamilton, FarmMidwayBuilding1984
Everhart, Riley, Farm and General StoreArnoldBuilding1984
Fair Grove Methodist Church CemeterySouth ThomasvilleSite1984
Finch, T. Austin and Ernestine L., HouseThomasvilleBuilding2019
First Reformed ChurchLexingtonBuilding2000
Good Hope Methodist Church CemeteryWelcomeSite1984
Grace Episcopal ChurchLexingtonBuilding2006
Grimes Brothers MillLexingtonBuilding2002
Grimes SchoolLexingtonBuilding1988
Grimes-Crotts MillReedy CreekBuilding1984
Haden PlaceTyroBuilding1984
Hampton HouseArcadiaBuilding1984
Hedrick's Grove Reformed ChurchLexingtonBuilding2008
Holt, Dr. William Rainey, HouseLexingtonBuilding1983
Jersey Baptist Church CemeteryLinwoodSite1984
Jersey Settlement Meeting HouseLinwoodBuilding1984
Junior Order United American Mechanics National Orphans HomeLexingtonBuilding1984
Koonts, Capt. John, Jr., FarmTyroBuilding1984
Lambeth, Shadrach, HouseThomasvilleBuilding1984
Lexington Industrial Historic DistrictLexingtonDistrict2019
Lexington Memorial HospitalLexingtonBuilding2012
Lexington Residential Historic DistrictLexingtonDistrict2007
Lincoln Park Historic DistrictLexingtionDistrict2026
Mitchell HouseThomasvilleBuilding2000
Moore, Eli, HouseHigh PointBuilding1984
Mor-Val Hosiery MillDentonBuilding2001
Mount Ebal Methodist Protestant ChurchDentonBuilding1984
Old Davidson County CourthouseLexingtonBuilding1971
Pilgrim Reformed Church CemeteryLexingtonSite1984
Randolph Street Historic DistrictThomasvilleDistrict2012
Reid FarmJackson HillBuilding1979
Salem Street Historic DistrictThomasvilleDistrict2006
Shoaf, Henry, FarmLexingtonBuilding1984
Smith ClinicThomasvilleBuilding1991
Sowers, Philip, HouseChurchlandBuilding1980
Spach, Adam, Rock House SiteWinston-SalemSite2002
Spring Hill Methodist Protestant Church CemeteryHigh PointSite1984
Spurgeon HouseHigh PointBuilding1983
St. Luke's Lutheran Church CemeteryTyroSite1984
St. Stephen United Methodist ChurchLexingtonBuilding2021
Thomasville Downtown Historic DistrictThomasvilleDistrict2005
Thomasville Railroad Passenger DepotThomasvilleBuilding1981
Tyro TavernTyroBuilding1984
Uptown Lexington Historic DistrictLexingtonDistrict1996
Waggoner GraveyardWelcomeSite1984
Wall, George W., HouseWallburgBuilding1984
Welborn, John Henry, HouseLexingtonBuilding1984
Yadkin College Historic DistrictYadkin CollegeDistrict1988

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Davidson was formed in 1822 (1822-12-09) from Rowan.

DAVIDSON created from ROWAN.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Davidson County population from 1830 to 2020 (Census historical series).

169k91k13k18301840188019201930196020002020
183018401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
13,38914,60616,60120,33323,40335,20153,37762,24479,493113,162147,246168,930

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

28 cemeteries and 11 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 28 of 28 listed
NameLatLon
Abbotts Creek Cemetery36.00541-80.08587
Becks Cemetery35.75791-80.2256
Bethany Cemetery35.95707-80.16338
Bethel Cemetery35.81982-80.36465
Beulah Cemetery35.88791-80.27866
Cedar Springs Cemetery35.68041-80.09588
Emanuel Cemetery35.84319-80.11532
Fair Grove Cemetery35.8518-80.0781
Forest Lawn Cemetery35.82958-80.28144
Friedburg Moravian God's Acre Cemetery35.99498-80.29522
Good Hope Cemetery35.92942-80.33618
Grubb Cemetery35.77047-80.41283
Holly Hill Memorial Park Cemetery35.86713-80.08282
Jersey Cemetery35.73262-80.31149
Lexington City Cemetery35.82819-80.25227
Mills Home Cemetery35.87153-80.09722
Mount Carmel Cemetery35.84485-80.05893
New Jersey Cemetery35.75333-80.26671
Newsom Cemetery35.54652-80.16394
Owen Family Cemetery35.76357-80.27332
Owens Cemetery35.65346-80.2056
Pilgrim Cemetery35.85291-80.21699
Pilgrim Cemetery35.86207-80.20699
Sandy Creek Cemetery35.8168-80.37505
Spring Hill Cemetery35.97124-80.05504
Washington Cemetery36.01901-80.19977
Wesleys Cemetery35.77104-80.36394
Workman Cemetery35.72013-80.18143
Historical populated places — 11 of 11
NameLatLon
Abotts Creek36.00486-80.08449
Bethany35.95736-80.16421
Brummels35.91236-80.07338
Eden35.8393-80.0606
Jimes35.84542-80.19366
Munroe35.92403-80.30589
Pennfield35.92597-80.05921
Rocky Meadow35.72847-80.14755
Stokes Ferry35.50736-80.18255
Walks35.9943-80.26838
Wind Hill35.55403-80.09977

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Davidson County, North Carolina

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.