Tuckasegee is an unincorporated community in Jackson County

Jackson County, North Carolina

Jackson County is a county located in the southwest of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 40,271. Since 1913 its county seat has been Sylva, replacing Webster.-History:...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Tuckasegee is located at the intersection of North Carolina Highway 107 and North Carolina Highway 281

North Carolina Highway 281

North Carolina Highway 281 is a primary state highway in the state of North Carolina. The highway runs north–south, connecting communities in western Jackson County and scenic areas of southwest Transylvania County...

 southeast of Forest Hills

Forest Hills, North Carolina

Forest Hills is a village in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 365 at the 2010 census. Formerly a neighborhood within nearby unincorporated Cullowhee, it became incorporated in 1997...

. It has its own post office and a couple of gas stations/convenience stores and little else except homes.

History

Tuckasegee is located where the East and West forks of the Tuckasegee River come together, rendering it historically flood prone but due to new dams being built on each fork of the river, it is not as flood prone as it was in the past. Wolf, Tanasee Creek, Bear, and Cedar Cliff Lakes are on the West Fork and Glenville Lake on the East Fork. It once boasted two schools, one in Little Canada above it, Canada Elementary, a K-8 School, built in 1952 and closed in 1982, and one in Tuckasegee itself, Tuckaseigee School, a combination Elementary and High School, built in the 1940s after a fire consumed the original early 1900s structure, and it closed in 1958. Due to no schools being in the area, students in Little Canada and Upper Tuckasegee are subject to a minimum 45-minute Bus Ride to Cullowhee Valley School in Cullowhee, and car trips to either Sylva or Cullowhee are similar in length. Bear Lake Reserve is an exclusive housing development along Bear Lake in Little Canada. The area has great recreation opportunities for boating, rafting, hiking, and mountain climbing. The community is very against development of the valley, which has been mainly farmland since it was settled in the 1800s. The area once had a couple of Logging Towns, one in the Rock Bridge area of Little Canada and another in East LaPorte. East LaPorte once also boasted its own school, and its much closer to Cullowhee, but hasn't had a school since 1947 and a Post Office since 1955. The logging towns are largely gone, with little trace. Tuckasegee has several historic mountain Churches, including the Tuckasegee Wesleyan Church and the East LaPorte Community Church. The area has a home, the Minnie Stephens Log House, reportedly the first house built by whites in the county. The Caney Fork, East LaPorte, Cowarts, Little Canada, and Bear Lake Communities make up Tuckasegee, as they are all in the general area around the unincorporated place and use the Tuckasegee Post Office.