Kona, North Carolina

Coordinates: 35°57′05″N 82°11′06″W / 35.95139°N 82.18500°W

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kona, North Carolina
Unincorporated community
The grave of Charles Silver.
Kona Show map of North Carolina Kona Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 35°57′05″N 82°11′06″W / 35.95139°N 82.18500°W / 35.95139; -82.18500
Country	United States
State	North Carolina
County	Mitchell
Founded	1916
Named for	Feldspar^[1]
Elevation	2,359 ft (719 m)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	28705^[2]
Area code	828
GNIS feature ID	1021066^[3]

Kona is an unincorporated community in Mitchell County, North Carolina, United States. The community is located along North Carolina Highway 80 (NC 80), near the confluence of the North and South Toe Rivers and at the western slope of Ellis Mountain.^[4]

History

The community of Kona is named after the chemical make-up of feldspar; K for potassium, O for oxygen, and Na for sodium.^[1] Founded in 1916, Kona became the original starting point for the Black Mountain Railway (later owned by Yancey Railroad) and where it connected to the South and Western Railroad (later owned by Clinchfield Railroad); it had daily roundtrip passenger and mixed train service to Murchison, via Burnsville. By the 1950s, only freight service remained along both lines; in 1982, the Yancey Railroad ceased operations and the rail line was abandoned. CSX, successor of the Clinchfield Railroad, continues rail service through the area.^[5]^[6]^[7]

The Kona Post Office operated from 1916 to 1953, when it was replaced with rural letter carrier service from Bakersville.^[8]^[9]

Notable person

Frankie Stewart Silver, axe murderer and one of the first women executed in North Carolina, for the murder of her husband Charles, 1833.

References

^ ^a ^b "Kona". Mitchell County Historical Society. December 10, 2018. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ "Mitchell County - North Carolina Zip Code Boundary Map (NC)". USNaviguide, LLC. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ "Kona, North Carolina". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ "Ellis Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ Silvers, Rick (March 26, 2017). "BMRR & Yancey Railroad". Mountain Area Information Network. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ "Black Mountain Railway". North Carolina Railroads. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ "Clinchfield Railroad". North Carolina Railroads. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ "Mitchell County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
^ "Carrier Lookup - Carrier Routes by ZIP". Melissa Lookups. Retrieved December 27, 2020.

External links

Media related to Kona, North Carolina at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Municipalities and communities of Mitchell County, North Carolina, United States
County seat: Bakersville
Towns	Bakersville Spruce Pine	Mitchell County map
Unincorporated communities	Buladean Estatoe Kona Little Switzerland‡ Loafers Glory Penland Pigeonroost Poplar Red Hill Relief
Ghost town	Boonford‡
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
North Carolina portal United States portal

Categories:

Hidden categories: