Ravensford, North Carolina

Ravensford
Unincorporated community
Ravensford

Location within the state of North Carolina

Coordinates: 35°30′39″N 83°17′44″W / 35.51083°N 83.29556°W / 35.51083; -83.29556Coordinates: 35°30′39″N 83°17′44″W / 35.51083°N 83.29556°W / 35.51083; -83.29556
Country United States
State North Carolina
County Swain County
Elevation 2,175 ft (663 m)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code 28719
Area code(s) 828
GNIS feature ID 1022172[1]

Ravensford is an unincorporated community in Swain County, North Carolina.[1] Located along the banks of Raven Fork, a tributary of the Oconaluftee River, it was established as a mill town, sometime between 1900-1910. With a varying population from 200-1,000 people, it operated as a company town, where the mill owned an operated everything, from housing to the school/church building. In 1933, Ravensford Lumber Company sold the town and area to the National Park Service for over $33 an acre; In 1934, it became part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.[2]

In 1938, the U.S. Government, the State of North Carolina and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians made a compromise that transferred land at Ravensford into the Qualla Boundary in exchange for land ceded for the Blue Ridge Parkway. As part of the compensation, North Carolina constructed a new highway (US 19) through Soco Gap and Qualla Boundary.[3]

Ravensford since then has become the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Oconaluftee area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Within the Qualla Boundary area of Ravensford lies Cherokee High School, built in 2010, and a few homes dotted along Big Cove Road.

References

  1. 1 2 "Ravensford, North Carolina". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  2. ↑ Mountaineers and Rangers: a History of the Federal Forest Management in the Southern Appalachians 1900-81. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1983.
  3. ↑ Finger, John R. (1992). Cherokee Americans: The Eastern Band of Cherokees in the Twentieth Century. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803268791.


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