The Marion Inn stood on the corner where the current Duke Power and Masonic Hall building now stands.

Welcome to the McDowell County NCGenWeb site.  I am your county host, Jane Gouge.  McDowell County was formed in 1842 from Rutherford and Burke Counties.  McDowell is surrounded by Buncombe, Rutherford, Burke, Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey counties.

This site provides free genealogical information for your family history research.  If you have information to contribute, please consider sharing it for the benefit of others.

It is an honor to serve fellow researchers through the USGenWeb project.  Please take a moment to look around and share this site with other researchers who may be interested.

To submit genealogical and/or historical information for inclusion on this site; for questions or comments, please email

Andrews Geyser Historical Highway Marker

Jane Gouge
McDowell County Coordinator

McDowell County Next-Door Neighbors

Buncombe County, 1791, from Burke and Rutherford

Avery, 1911, from Caldwell, Mitchell and Watauga

Mitchell, 1861, from Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Watauga and Yancey

Yancey, 1833, from Buncombe and Burke

Rutherford, 1779, from Burke and Tryon

Burke, 1777, from Rowan

McDowell County’s Neighborhood

Cleveland, 1841, from Rutherford and Lincoln

Polk, 1855, from Henderson and Rutherford

Henderson, 1838, from Buncombe

Madison, 1851, from Buncombe and Yancey

Rest of the 90 North Carolina counties NC