Forsyth County is located in the Piedmont Triad Region of North Carolina encompassing 413 square miles. The estimated population in 2017 was 376,320. Forsyth is the 4th most populated county in North Carolina.
Winston was named the county seat in 1851. Towns located in Forsyth County are Lewisville, Clemmons, Walkertown, Kernersville, Tobaccoville, Rural Hall, Belews Creek, Bethania, and Bethabara. Sections of the county are in the Yadkin Valley wine region.
The major highways that cross into the county are I-40, I-40 Business, I-74, I-285, Highways.
Forsyth County began as a Moravian settlement in 1753 when Bishop August Spangenberg acquired a hundred thousand acre tract of land. The Moravians called their land Wachovia after the estate of Count Nicholas Von Zinzendorf, an early protector of the Moravian Church.
In 1849, the North Carolina legislature created a new county called Forsyth out of part of Stokes County and named after Colonel Benjamin Forsyth who was a respected landowner in Stokes County.
The county is known as the home of the Moravian settlement of the Carolinas, Wake Forest University, and R. J. Reynolds Tobacco.
Richard J. Reynolds started his tobacco corporation in Winston. His company propelled the area’s economic growth for years to come. Other notable businesses formed in Forsyth County are Krispy Kreme Doughnuts as well as the Wachovia Corporation.