Wilkes County, North Carolina
Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.
At a glance
SummaryThe National Register of Historic Places includes 24 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1971. Most listings are in or near Wilkesboro, North Wilkesboro, Traphill.
Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.
Newspapers
Library of CongressNewspaper directory data for North Carolina is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Wilkes titles at the Library of Congress.
National Register of Historic Places
NPS NRHP14 of 24 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.
24 listed properties
| Property | City | Listed |
|---|---|---|
| Brown-Cowles House and Cowles Law Office | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Claymont Hill | Ronda | 1985 |
| Cleveland, Robert, Log House | Purlear | 1972 |
| Downtown Main Street Historic District | North Wilkesboro | 2003 |
| Downtown Wilkesboro Historic District | Wilkesboro | 2009 |
| Elkin Creek Mill | West Elkin | 1982 |
| Federal Building | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Ferguson, J. T., Store | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Finley, Thomas B., House | North Wilkesboro | 2008 |
| Finley, Thomas B., Law Office | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Harmon School | Laurel Springs | 2020 |
| Hemphill, J. L., House | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Holbrook Farm | Traphill | 1978 |
| Hubbard, Benjamin, House | Moravian Falls | 2009 |
| Johnson-Hubbard House | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Lincoln Heights School | Wilkesboro | 2018 |
| Old Wilkes County Jail | Wilkesboro | 1971 |
| Southern Railway Depot | North Wilkesboro | 2004 |
| St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Cemetery | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Traphill Historic District | Traphill | 1980 |
| Wilkes County Courthouse | Wilkesboro | 1979 |
| Wilkes Hosiery Mills | North Wilkesboro | 2008 |
| Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
| Wilkesboro-Smithey Hotel | Wilkesboro | 1982 |
Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.
County formation
Newberry AHCBWilkes was formed in 1778 (1778-02-15) from Surry, unorganized territory.
WILKES created from SURRY and unorganized territory.
Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
Population by decade
CensusWilkes County population from 1790 to 2020 (Census historical series).
| 1790 | 1800 | 1820 | 1840 | 1860 | 1880 | 1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,143 | 7,247 | 9,967 | 12,577 | 14,749 | 19,181 | 26,872 | 32,644 | 43,003 | 45,243 | 45,269 | 58,657 | 65,632 | 65,969 |
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
NPSPark units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).
| Site | Type | Dist. |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Ridge Parkway | Parkway | 24.0 km |
Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.
Cemeteries & historical places
USGS GNIS18 cemeteries and 35 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.
Cemeteries — 18 of 18 listed
| Name |
|---|
| Burke Cemetery |
| Cherry Grove Cemetery |
| Double Creek Cemetery |
| Hunting Creek Cemetery |
| Knobs Cemetery |
| Mount Sinai Cemetery |
| Mountain Park Cemetery |
| Mountlawn Memorial Park |
| Old Bethany Cemetery |
| Old Brier Creek Cemetery |
| Roaring Gap Cemetery |
| Roaring River United Methodist Cemetery - Long Bottom Cemetery |
| Roberts Cemetery |
| Saint Pauls Cemetery |
| Taylor Cemetery |
| Truitt Cemetery |
| Union Tarheel Cemetery |
| Walnut Grove Baptist Church Cemetery |
Historical populated places — 35 of 35
| Name |
|---|
| Allin |
| Beaux |
| Brewers |
| Brier Creek |
| Brown |
| Bryan |
| Chuckle |
| Cosfort |
| Denny |
| Dimmette |
| East Fruitland |
| Fletcher |
| Goulds |
| Hay Meadow |
| Henderson |
| Hendrix |
| Hilorn |
| Hunting Creek |
| Lester |
| Lovelace |
| Martin |
| Mertie |
| New Castle |
| Newlife |
| Offer |
| Robinet |
| Russaw |
| Springfield |
| Spurgeon |
| Stokes |
| Walsh |
| Weatherspon |
| Whitty |
| Zebra |
| Zimmerman |
Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.
Historical markers
HMdb linkMarker 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 Wilkes County, North Carolina
Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.