Wilson County, NC - WILSON COUNTY WAS CREATED IN 1855

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THE HISTORICAL NEWS
State of North Carolina
Duplin, Edgecombe, Lenoir, Nash, Wayne & Wilson Counties

September 2001
Vol. 21  No.-59-NC   Southern Historical News, Inc.  Page 16

(Author unknown)

WILSON COUNTY WAS CREATED IN 1855

Between the Coast and the Piedmont of North Carolina, rests Wilson County, 
an area that has become a haven for new industry, business and finance.  
Incorporated in 1849 as a farm market.  Wilson was named for General Louis D. 
Wilson, Edgecombe County Senator and Mexican War Veteran.

General Wilson was an intimate friend of one of the men whose election to the 
State Legislature made the creation of Wilson County possible.

General Joshua Barnes, who was a candidate in 1854 for the House of Commons 
and had been an intimate friend of Louis Wilson, joined with Colonel David 
Williams, also an Edgecombe County candidate for the House, to urge creation 
of the new county. 

Formation of the county, which had been hoped for since the incorporation of 
the Town of Wilson in 1849, had been opposed by Tarboro area residents.  A 
plank road from Greenville to Wilson and the railroad which ran through the 
town had brought a concentration of taxable wealth to the Wilson area.

General Barnes and Colonel Williams ran for the legislature as advocates of 
the new county and received nearly every vote from the four Edgecombe districts 
which were in the limits of the proposed county.

With the support of the residents of Wilson, Saratoga, Gardners and Joyners 
districts, the two advocates of the new county went to the legislature and 
urged their fellow legislators to create the new county, which was established 
on February 13, 1855.

The county was immediately named for General Barnes good friend, General Louis 
D. Wilson.

Always favored for harboring traditional, family-oriented communities in the 
heartland of the eastern part of the state, the county has through the years 
developed a harmonious agricultural and industrial character.

Long known throughout the state and beyond as the home of the World's Greatest 
Tobacco Market, numerous antique stores and sumptuous barbecue, Wilson County 
has evolved in recent years as one of the state's fastest growing industrial 
locations.  Perhaps no other county in the state can better exemplify such a 
successful marriage between agriculture and industry.  In many ways, the county 
is a perfect mix of traditional southern living and modern economic development.

There are six incorporated towns in the county:  Black Creek, Elm City, Lucama, 
Saratoga, Sims and Stantonsburg.  Each of these communities are conveniently 
located and offer a combination of agriculture, industry and modern shopping 
facilities.

Amid this climate of growth are unlimited opportunities for business and 
pleasure. Wilson offers sound government, excellent education centers, modern 
highways and excellent rail transportation which link great cities and resort 
areas, as well as an abundance of recreational and cultural activities.  

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