County Past
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Polk County, North Carolina

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
26historic places
—earliest paper
1847formed
19,328pop. 2020
28cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 26 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1970. Most listings are in or near Tryon, Saluda, Columbus.

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 Polk titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

11 of 26 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

26 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Bank of Tryon BuildingTryonBuilding2008
Blackberry HillTryonBuilding1974
Blockhouse SiteTryonSite1970
Charlton LelandSaludaBuilding2006
Church of the TransfigurationSaludaBuilding1982
Downtown Tryon Historic DistrictTryonDistrict2015
Friendly HillsTryonBuilding1998
Green River PlantationColumbusBuilding1974
Hughes, J. G., HouseColumbusBuilding1989
Johnson, John Hiram, HouseSaludaBuilding1994
Jones, Rev. Joshua D., HouseMill SpringBuilding1991
LynncoteTryonBuilding2010
Lynncote Historic DistrictTryonDistrict2022
Mill Farm InnTryonBuilding2009
Mills-Screven PlantationTryonBuilding1983
Pine Crest InnTryonBuilding1982
Polk County CourthouseColumbusBuilding1974
Railway Clerks' Mountain HouseSaludaBuilding2000
Ryder HallSaludaBuilding2005
Saluda Main Street Historic DistrictSaludaDistrict1996
Seven HearthsTryonBuilding1976
Stone HedgeTryonBuilding2015
SunnydaleTryonBuilding2011
The Cotton PatchTryonDistrict2021
Tryon Country ClubTryonDistrict2013
Waymon, Eunice, BirthplaceTryonBuilding2023

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Polk was formed in 1847 (1847-01-18) from Henderson, Rutherford.

POLK created from HENDERSON and RUTHERFORD.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Polk County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

21k12k4,0431860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
4,0435,0627,0048,83211,87411,62711,39512,98418,32419,328

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

National Park Service sites nearby

NPS

Park units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).

SiteTypeDist.
Carl Sandberg Home National Historic SitePark unit25.4 km

Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

28 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 28 of 28 listed
NameLatLon
Bethlehem United Methodist Church Graveyard35.30151-82.16011
Beulah Baptist Church Graveyard35.2839-82.11256
Bradley Cemetery35.27955-82.30345
Bradley Cemetery35.29372-82.28567
Byars Baptist Church Cemetery35.32567-82.11614
Columbus Baptist Church Graveyard35.25139-82.20109
Columbus Presbyterian Church Graveyard35.24863-82.1978
Coopers Gap Baptist Church Graveyard35.37845-82.19682
Fork Creek Baptist Cemetery35.20882-82.32168
Friendship Baptist Church Graveyard35.24704-82.32403
Good Shepherd Cemetery35.21518-82.22882
Green Creek First Baptist Church Graveyard35.23074-82.05037
Green Creek Missionary Baptist Church Graveyard35.25044-82.04615
Jones - Price Cemetery35.29344-82.29651
Melvin Hill Church of the Brethren Graveyard35.20413-82.02133
Midway Baptist Church Cemetery35.27186-82.184
Mill Spring First Baptist Church Graveyard35.29648-82.16233
Morgan Chapel Baptist Church Graveyard35.20725-82.18032
New Freedom Baptist Church Graveyard35.21051-82.00601
Pacolet Hills Baptist Church Graveyard35.19762-82.13903
Patty Cemetery35.30428-82.27845
Peniel Baptist Church Graveyard35.25124-82.1259
Polk Memorial Gardens35.24455-82.20845
Saluda City Cemetery35.24415-82.35077
Sandy Plains Presbyterian Church Graveyard35.24863-82.08594
State Line Baptist Church Cemetery35.1928-82.08181
Tryon Cemetery35.21452-82.23362
Wheat Creek Baptist Church Graveyard35.28784-82.06778

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 Polk County, North Carolina

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