Thanks to our new partner, the Clay County Historical and Arts Council, we now have a batch of historic photos from Clay County on our website. These photos were initially put together by the council to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Clay County in 2011.

Cars parked in the Hayesville Town Square circa 1956.

Clay County is situated in the far western part of North Carolina on the border between North Carolina and Georgia. The county seat is Hayesville, NC, a small town that currently has a population of about 400 people, while the county currently has a population of around 11,000. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Hayesville was 35 people in 1870 and the population of Clay County was 2,461.

A group of young women in Victorian garb sitting on a float in the Hayesville Centennial Parade.

The photos span the years 1862-1975. A large portion of the images focus on Hayesville, NC, the county seat. The rest of the pictures focus primarily on the surrounding rural area of the county. The subjects of the photos include shop interiors, school groups, the Dam Construction at Lake Chatuge in 1941-1942, historic county documents, the Hayesville town square, the Hayesville Centennial celebration in 1961 and related events, the Tennessee & North Carolina Railroad Depot in Hayesville, and rural life in the county.

Family standing in front of Pearl Scrogg’s residence in 1889.

For more information on the Clay County Historical and Arts Council, please visit their website.