Region:Mountain County Seat:Franklin Population:29,8111 Towns & Cities: Highlands
In the year of 1828, Macon County was formed in out of Haywood County. It is in the western section of the State and is. bounded by the state of Georgia and Clay, Cherokee, Swain and Jackson counties.2
Macon County was named in honor of Nathaniel Macon, speaker of the House of Representatives, United States Senator, and president of the Constitutional Convention of 1835.
It not exactly evident where this nickname originated, but it seems to have given birth during the Civil War. North Carolina's troops were said to have tar on their heels, because they would not run in battle even as other states retreated.
