The following table lists all of the historic counties of North Carolina. The dates by each county are the dates of Assembly which authorized formation of the county. Some did not form, and others did not form until later dates, but this should give you a perspective time line. Several of the counties later were absorbed by other counties, or their names were changed. The oldest District of permanent settlement was known as the Albemarle District, authorized in 1663,by a Charter from Charles II, to eight Lords Proprietors, by which he formed Carolina. This Colony was to encompass the territory between thirty-one and thirty-six degrees, north latitude, and extending westward from the Atlantic Ocean to the "South Seas". In 1665, this charter was amended to extend the boundaries thirty minutes northward and two degrees southward. There were two areas of settlement in Carolina, the Albemarle District, which became North Carolina, and the Ashley and Cooper River area which became South Carolina. On December 7, 1710, North Carolina and South Carolina became separate provinces, and on May 9, 1712, Edward Hyde became the first governor of NORTH CAROLINA. On December 22, 1789, the Legislature passed an act ceding the western lands to the United States, and on April 2, 1790, the United States Congress accepted these lands, and they were no longer the property of North Carolina. These were the counties of Washington, Sullivan, Davidson, Greene, Hawkins, Sumner and Tennessee, which were to become the state of Tennessee. In the table below, the counties with an asterisk are the counties as exist for present day. 1
1 This information taken from "The Formation of the North Carolina Counties 1663-1943" by David Leroy Corbitt, Copyright 1987 by the Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. The Title link will take you to the State Archives Site where this book can still be purchased.
