MARS HILL

The earliest inhabitants of what is now Madison County were the Cherokee Indians. The ambush and defeat of General Edward Braddock's army eight miles from Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburg) on July 9, 1775, may designate a turning point in the stream of settlers migrating westward in search of available lands turned southward rather than confront Indian hostilities. The settlers, mostly Scots-Irish and German descent, pushed southward into North Carolina and East Tennessee.

The first white settler in the Buncombe County area came from the blockhouse at Old Fort in 1782. Samuel Davidson with his wife, child, and female slave settled along the Swannanoa River. Those who settled present day Madison County probably entered the area around 1790. By the mid-1800's there were 10 families living within three miles of what is present-day Mars Hill, then called Pleasant Hill.

The Town of Mars Hill grew up hand in hand with education. In the mid-1800's there was not a school within a 25-mile radius of what is now Mars Hill. The nearest schools were in Burnsville (Yancey County) and Asheville (Buncombe County). Most Pleasant Hill residents, who were all Baptists, sent their children to Burnsville to attend Burnsville Academy, a Methodist school. Many of the families suspected instructors at the Methodist school of attempting to persuade their children into the Methodist faith. This was the impetus for a new school. Edward Carter, a father and owner of large tracts of land, was concerned enough about his children and his faith to initiate efforts to build a Baptist academy closer to home.

In 1856, Carter's dreams became a reality when the French Broad Baptist Academy opened to students. On February 16, 1859, the school was chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly as Mars Hill College, a name suggested from the Bible verse, "then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill...," Acts 17:22. In 1862, the school had 35 students on its four-acre site. Today, the 180 acre college campus is home to approximately 1,200 students and is the oldest educational institution in Weatern North Carolina.

The history of the Town of Mars Hill is inseparable from the history of the college. The town, symbolized by the same name, grew up around the school. Teachers and students settled around the school and businesses followed to supply their needs. The North Carolina General Assembly officially recognized the Town of Mars Hill in February, 1893. At that time the Town was incorporated and placed in a 1,200-yard circle, the center of which was the northwest corner of the college building.