Fast Facts About Haywood County

Mountains in Haywood County

Haywood County has 13 peaks above 6,000 feet. They are:

  • Shining Rock-6,010 feet
  • Grassy Cove Top-6,055 feet
  • Tennent Mountain-6,040 feet
  • Black Balsam Knob-6,214 feet
  • Sams Knob-6,055 feet
  • Rheinhart Knob-6,095 feet
  • Richland Balsam-6,410 feet
  • Cold Mountain-6,030 feet
  • Waterrock Knob 6,292 feet
  • Mt. Lynn Lowery-6,290 feet
  • Plott Balsam-6,088 feet
  • Mt. Guyot-6,621 feet
  • Big Cataloochee-6,180 feet

Other Facts

  • Haywood County has the highest average elevation of any county in the East.
  • Haywood’s rivers and springs are its own: all water in Haywood County originates here.
  • Pisgah National Forest in Haywood County is part of the National Forest Scenic Byway, a 79-mile loop.
  • Haywood County is a Civil War site: Kirk’s Raid occurred here in 1865.
  • Canton was originally Cherokee Indian Territory. A post office first opened here in 1837 and the community at the time was named Pigeon River.
  • Haywood’s oldest church, now First Baptist Church in Canton, was established in 1801 as Locust Old Fields Church.
  • The railroad came to Canton in 1881 and Waynesville in 1882.
  • Novelist, poet and educator Fred Chappell grew up in Canton and graduated from high school there in 1954.
  • Two of the world’s largest sapphires have been found in Canton’s Old Pressley Sapphire Mine, now open to visitors.
  • Clyde’s 1795 Shook House was home of Bishop Francis Asbury, the first Methodist Bishop consecrated in America.
  • Haywood County has 15 public schools - 9 elementary, schools, 3 middle schools, 2 high schools and 1 alternative high school.
  • In 1891, Haywood County got its first library when a group of Waynesville women started the Waynesville Library. in 1915, the Canton Library formed under the guidance of the Canton Woman's Club.