Newland, NC

Newland is Avery County’s seat and, by elevation, the highest county seat east of the Mississippi. That gives the North Carolina town an unusually specific first fact, but the everyday map is just as mountain-shaped: the Linville River valley, a courthouse, and roads climbing through the High Country. Newland was named for Lieutenant Governor William Calhoun Newland when Avery County was formed in 1911, incorporated in 1913, and once sat on the route of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. Newland is mountain government in a compact town—river valley, courthouse, and a bit of bragging rights.