Cricket, NC

At the 2020 census, Cricket was a Wilkes County census-designated place of 1,966 people set between Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro, on the rolling ground west of the main towns. The community name shows up in county place-name histories as early as 1888, and the area still feels more like a named rural neighborhood than a conventional town: Boone Trail is the main local spine, houses and churches sit among hills, and errands lead into the two Wilkesboros.

That in-between position is the useful thing to know about Cricket. West Wilkes High School’s district includes Cricket, while Wilkes County Schools and the county’s volunteer fire system handle the larger civic network. The Cricket Volunteer Fire Department is a point of local pride; county meeting minutes describe residents turning out to support it when the department sought to improve daytime coverage and plan for future equipment. Cricket itself remains a low-rise community of roads, churches, a fire hall, and rolling hills. It is the kind of place people describe by the routes and neighbors around it, which is often how a rural Carolina community is really organized.