I enjoyed a visit to Anson County on December 27, 2022. I had the day off from work, so I enjoyed a weekday visit to one of North Carolina's southern-border counties.
Anson County was formed in 1750, and named for George Anson, a British admiral who circumnavigated the globe the globe from 1740 to 1744. (Impressive!) The Catawba Siouan tribe originally occupied Anson County.
It was about a two hour drive from home to Wadesboro, Anson's county seat. Wadesboro's an old town, originally founded in 1783 as New Town (or Newtown). It was renamed Wadesboro in 1787, after Colonel Thomas Wade, who fought in the Revolutionary War. According to the 2020 US Census, there were 5,008 people in Wadesboro, a pretty small county seat.
One of the fun facts I learned in Wadesboro is that
Blind Boy Fuller (1904-1941) was born there! My first tip-off was the nice, big mural of him on one of the buildings in downtown Wadesboro. Blind Boy Fuller was a blues guitarist and singer who died in Durham, NC, where I work. Born Fulton Allen Fuller, he became completely blind in his 20s, but was still a very talented musician.
I also spotted a couple more murals in downtown Wadesboro. This one touted the world's best peach ice cream, right there in Anson County! Who knew?! There's a local spot called
Peaches n' Cream, which sells peach ice cream (and other flavors, too), as well as fresh, local-grown produce from the nearby family-owned Phillips Farm. I was visiting Anson County during their off-season, so I have a good reason to return!
The rest of my Anson County photos are here.
