Nash County, North Carolina

Nash County, North Carolina
County
Nash County Courthouse in Nashville
Flag
Seal
Logo
Motto: 
"Where Business meets Opportunity"
Location within the U.S. state of North Carolina
Coordinates: 35°58′N 77°59′W / 35.97°N 77.99°W / 35.97; -77.99
Country United States
State North Carolina
Founded1777
Named afterFrancis Nash
SeatNashville
Largest communityRocky Mount
Area
 • Total
542.82 sq mi (1,405.9 km2)
 • Land540.44 sq mi (1,399.7 km2)
 • Water2.38 sq mi (6.2 km2)  0.44%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
94,970
 • Estimate 
(2024)
97,990
 • Density175.73/sq mi (67.85/km2)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district1st
Websitenashcountync.gov

Nash County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 94,970.[1] Its county seat is Nashville.[2] 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;[3] the earliest land grants date to 1743.[4] As the population of Edgecombe increased, citizens in the western portion of the county found travel to the county seat of Tarboro to conduct official business to be difficult. Legislator Nathan Boddie proposed to the North Carolina Provincial Congress that the county be divided.[3] As a result, Nash was formed from all parts of Edgecombe west of the Falls of the Tar River in 1777.[5][6][7] It was named for American Revolutionary War Brigadier General Francis Nash, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Germantown.[5] 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 Nashville in 1784.[7] Nashville was formally designated the seat of county government in 1815[8] and was incorporated in 1823.[9] In 1833, the county's first courthouse burned down and was replaced by a brick building.[9]

In 1786, the state of North Carolina conducted a census that 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.[7] Several early communities in Nash County developed as stops along stagecoach routes, including Dortches, Red Oak, Stanhope, Hilliardston, and Castalia.[10] Settlement also occurred along rivers and creeks, accompanied by the construction of gristmills.[11] 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.[12] By the 1860s, Nash County had a population over 11,600 and an economy centered on agriculture.[11] In 1855, parts of Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, and Wayne Counties were combined to form Wilson County.[13] Over 1,000 men from the county fought in the American Civil War.[11]

In 1871, after significant political controversy, all parts of Edgecombe County west of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad were annexed to Nash[14][6] leading to the bifurcation of the Edgecombe communities of Battleboro and Sharpsburg between the two counties.[6] As a result of the boundary shift, Nash County's black population grew[15] 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 in the state.[6] In 1899, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad established repair shops in Rocky Mount, precipitating the city's rapid growth.[11] In 1921, the county's third courthouse was built.[9]

Geography

Nash County rests in the northeastern part of North Carolina[4] along the dividing line between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions.[3] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 542.82 square miles (1,405.9 km2), of which 2.38 square miles (6.2 km2) (0.44%) atr covered by water.[16] Elevation in the county gradually rises from the east to the west.[17]

State and local protected areas

  • Flower Hill Nature Preserve (part)
  • Sandy Creek Game Land (part)[18]
  • Shocco Creek Game Land (part)[18]

Major water bodies

Adjacent counties

Major highways

Major infrastructure

Demographics

2020 census

Nash County, North Carolina – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 2000[21] Pop 2010[22] Pop 2020[23] % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 53,326 51,770 46,317 61.00% 54.02% 48.77%
Black or African American alone (NH) 29,505 35,449 36,679 33.75% 36.99% 38.62%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 346 567 615 0.40% 0.59% 0.65%
Asian alone (NH) 477 713 904 0.55% 0.74% 0.95%
Pacific Islander alone (NH) 20 17 28 0.02% 0.02% 0.03%
Other race alone (NH) 80 112 407 0.09% 0.12% 0.43%
Multiracial (NH) 727 1,197 2,698 0.83% 1.25% 2.84%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2,939 6,015 7,322 3.36% 6.28% 7.71%
Total 87,420 95,840 94,970 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

As of the 2020 census, 94,970 people, 39,093 households, and 27,002 families were residing in the county.[24]

The median age was 43.1 years; 21.5% of residents were under 18 and 19.7% were 65 or older. For every 100 females, there were 90.7 males, and for every 100 females 18 and over, there were 87.8 males age 18 and over.[24]

The racial makeup of the county was 49.9% White, 38.9% Black or African American, 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 4.9% from some other race, and 4.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 7.7% of the population.[25]

About 50.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 49.7% lived in rural areas.[26]

Of the households, 28.6% had children under 18 living in them, 42.0% were married-couple households, 18.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 33.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[24]

Of the 43,154 housing units, 9.4% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 63.9% were owner-occupied and 36.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.6%.[24]

Demographic change

After decades of growth, Nash County recorded an almost 1% population loss between 2010 and 2020.[20]

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, who are 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 implements the commission's decisions. County government provides various services, including public safety, social services, cultural activities, and the provision of utilities.[33]

Nash County is represented in the General Assembly by the Senate's 11th district and the House of Representatives' 24th and 25th districts.[34] It lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 8th Prosecutorial District, the 8A Superior Court District, and the 8th District Court District.[35]

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 disenfranchised 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" county. Although it gave a plurality to Populist candidate James B. Weaver in 1892, unlike Sampson County or Alabama's Chilton County, it did not subsequently turn to the Republican Party.

Nash County voted Democratic in every election from 1896 to 1964 – in Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman's five elections, the Republicans never received eleven percent of the county's limited electorate's ballots. Many whites supported George Wallace'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 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.[36][37] Nash County has emerged in recent years as a swing county and a bellwether 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 in 2012, Donald Trump in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and Trump in 2024. In 2024, it also split its majority vote between Republican and Democratic statewide candidates.[38]

United States presidential election results for Nash County, North Carolina[39]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
1880 1,406 46.59% 1,612 53.41% 0 0.00%
1884 1,556 45.75% 1,845 54.25% 0 0.00%
1888 1,719 44.08% 2,181 55.92% 0 0.00%
1892 476 16.96% 997 35.53% 1,333 47.51%
1896 1,699 36.81% 2,916 63.17% 1 0.02%
1900 1,337 33.96% 2,600 66.04% 0 0.00%
1904 645 31.02% 1,428 68.69% 6 0.29%
1908 1,334 44.29% 1,678 55.71% 0 0.00%
1912 172 6.49% 1,862 70.21% 618 23.30%
1916 826 27.22% 2,189 72.15% 19 0.63%
1920 1,556 27.85% 4,031 72.15% 0 0.00%
1924 823 20.16% 3,129 76.63% 131 3.21%
1928 2,066 32.72% 4,249 67.28% 0 0.00%
1932 532 6.61% 7,472 92.79% 49 0.61%
1936 517 5.62% 8,682 94.38% 0 0.00%
1940 613 6.76% 8,456 93.24% 0 0.00%
1944 876 10.36% 7,577 89.64% 0 0.00%
1948 684 7.98% 7,590 88.50% 302 3.52%
1952 2,636 20.18% 10,424 79.82% 0 0.00%
1956 2,665 21.09% 9,969 78.91% 0 0.00%
1960 3,896 27.86% 10,086 72.14% 0 0.00%
1964 6,396 41.11% 9,163 58.89% 0 0.00%
1968 4,602 24.08% 5,283 27.64% 9,230 48.29%
1972 12,679 71.39% 4,503 25.35% 579 3.26%
1976 8,477 48.12% 8,937 50.73% 202 1.15%
1980 11,043 56.34% 8,184 41.75% 374 1.91%
1984 17,295 66.73% 8,588 33.14% 34 0.13%
1988 15,906 64.34% 8,740 35.35% 76 0.31%
1992 14,446 48.34% 10,809 36.17% 4,631 15.50%
1996 15,309 54.17% 11,142 39.42% 1,811 6.41%
2000 17,995 58.97% 12,376 40.56% 142 0.47%
2004 21,902 58.14% 15,693 41.66% 78 0.21%
2008 23,728 50.36% 23,099 49.02% 291 0.62%
2012 23,842 49.17% 24,313 50.14% 337 0.69%
2016 23,319 48.92% 23,235 48.75% 1,111 2.33%
2020 25,827 49.41% 25,947 49.64% 497 0.95%
2024 26,431 50.37% 25,508 48.61% 532 1.01%

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.[40] The largest private employer is Hospira, which operates a vaccine-manufacturing facility in Rocky Mount.[41]

As of 2023, over 40% of the county's area is cultivated farmland. Its top agricultural products are poultry, eggs, tobacco, and sweet potatoes.[42] Nash is one of the top sweet potato-producing counties in the state.[42][43]

Communities

Cities

Towns

Townships

Unincorporated community

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b "QuickFacts: Nash County, North Carolina". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Fleming 1998, p. 7.
  4. ^ a b "History of Nash County". Nash County, North Carolina. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Corbitt 2000, p. 157.
  6. ^ a b c d Kelley, Lucas. "The Historical Origins of the 1871 Nash-Edgecombe County Line". Digital Rocky Mount Mills. Community Histories Workshop, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Archived from the original on December 1, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Olds, Fred A. (January 3, 1924). "History Series of Carolina Counties". Durham Morning Herald. p. 4.
  8. ^ Corbitt 2000, pp. 157–158.
  9. ^ a b c Fleming 1998, p. 9.
  10. ^ Fleming 1998, pp. 7–8.
  11. ^ a b c d Fleming 1998, p. 8.
  12. ^ Fleming 1998, pp. 8, 21.
  13. ^ Corbitt 2000, p. 158.
  14. ^ Corbitt 2000, p. 159.
  15. ^ a b Fernelius, Katie Jane (March 24, 2021). "Rocky Mount Is Dead. Long Live Rocky Mount". The Assembly. Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  16. ^ "2020 County Gazetteer Files – North Carolina". United States Census Bureau. August 23, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  17. ^ Fleming 1998, p. 5.
  18. ^ a b "NCWRC Game Lands". www.ncpaws.org. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Powell 1976, p. 345.
  20. ^ a b c d Barkin, Dan (October 17, 2021). "20 miles from Raleigh, Nash County launches new economic development effort". Business North Carolina. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  21. ^ "P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Nash County, North Carolina". United States Census Bureau.
  22. ^ "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Nash County, North Carolina". United States Census Bureau.
  23. ^ "P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Nash County, North Carolina". United States Census Bureau.
  24. ^ a b c d "2020 Decennial Census Demographic Profile (DP1)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  25. ^ "2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  26. ^ "2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC)". United States Census Bureau. 2023. Retrieved December 26, 2025.
  27. ^ "County Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2024". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  28. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  29. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  30. ^ Forstall, Richard L., ed. (March 27, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  31. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  32. ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  33. ^ Wood 2023, p. iii.
  34. ^ "Nash County Representation : 2023-2024 Session". North Carolina General Assembly. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  35. ^ "Nash County". North Carolina Judicial Branch. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  36. ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  37. ^ "Anatomy of a swing state: What these 6 counties tell us about the upcoming NC election". The Charlotte Observer. November 4, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  38. ^ "NC county gets presidential prediction right yet again by backing Trump in 2024". The Charlotte Observer. November 7, 2024. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  39. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  40. ^ Wood 2023, p. v.
  41. ^ Doran, Will (January 6, 2025). "Bank seeks $40M in unpaid loans from NC senator's family farm. She says it's 'offensive'". WRAL-TV. Capitol Broadcasting Company. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  42. ^ a b Wood 2023, p. vi.
  43. ^ Ellis, Kevin (February 23, 2024). "Sweetpotato or sweet potato? Here's why N.C. group says one word is right". Business North Carolina. Retrieved November 19, 2024.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nash County, North Carolina.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.