Haywood County, North Carolina

Haywood County is a located in the  of. It is part of the. As of 2000, the population was 54,033. Its is, the largest town in the county.

History
The county was formed in from the western part of. It was named for, State of North Carolina from 1787 to 1827.

In the western part of Haywood County became. In parts of Haywood County and Macon County were combined to form.

Popular Culture
, located within the was made famous by the novel  by Charles Frazier. A based on the novel was distributed by  in 2003.

Law & Government
Haywood County is a member of the regional council of governments.

Haywood County contains a portion of the which is a tribal reservation for the, and is therefore subject mostly to tribal/federal laws rather than county or state laws.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,436 (555 ). 1,434 km² (554 sq mi) of it is land and 2 km² (1 sq mi) of it (0.17%) is water.

The originates in Haywood County. It is the only county in North Carolina that all water flows out while none flows in.

Notable peaks in the county include, at 6,030 feet, Mt. Sterling, at 5,835 feet, and Richland Balsam, at 6,410 feet in elevation. , the county's highest point at 6,621 feet, is the 4th highest mountain east of the. , in the in the southeastern section of the county, is the highest  in the entire Appalachian range. Haywood county is believed to be the highest county by mean elevation east of the with a mean elevation of 3600 feet (1095m). Avery county, NC approx. 50 miles NE also makes a similar claim, But as where Haywood county is nearly twice the size of Avery county, Haywood edges out slightly due to much more high elevation land area.

Sections of are in the far northeastern and southern parts of the county.

A portion of is in the northwestern section of the county, north of. Along with several mountains rising to over 6,000 feet in elevation, the Haywood area of the Smokies includes, which is home to a large campground and several historical structures dating to the 1800s and early 1900s.

Townships
The county is divided into fifteen : Beaverdam, Bethel, Cataloochee, Cecil, Clyde, Crabtree, Cruso, East Fork, Fines Creek, Iron Duff, Ivy Hill, Jonathan Creek, Pigeon, Waynesville, and White Oak.

Adjacent counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

Major Highways & Roads

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 * [[Image:US 23.svg|23px]]
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Railroads
operates a portion the through Haywood County, providing a rail connection with the rest of the state/country. operates a small yard in which directly serves Blue Ridge Paper and originates several local runs.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 54,033 people, 23,100 households, and 16,054 families residing in the county. The was 38/km² (98/sq mi). There were 28,640 housing units at an average density of 20/km² (52/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 96.85%, 1.27% or , 0.49% , 0.21% , 0.04% , 0.44% from , and 0.71% from two or more races. 1.41% of the population were or  of any race. 30.8% were of, 12.9% , 12.0% , 10.4% and 8.3%  ancestry according to. 97.1% spoke and 1.9%  as their first language.

There were 23,100 households out of which 26.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.70% were living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.50% were non-families. 26.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.76.

In the county the population was spread out with 20.80% under the age of 18, 6.20% from 18 to 24, 26.90% from 25 to 44, 27.10% from 45 to 64, and 19.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 92.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,922, and the median income for a family was $40,438. Males had a median income of $30,731 versus $21,750 for females. The for the county was $18,554. About 8.10% of families and 11.50% of the population were below the, including 17.40% of those under age 18 and 10.30% of those age 65 or over.