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Newton, North Carolina, the county seat of Catawba County, lies amidst gently rolling hills and the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills of Catawba County. Census 2000 reports Newton’s population as 12,560, which demonstrates a steady rate of growth since the 1970 population of 7,600.
Newton lies within the Greater Hickory Metro Area, which is widely known as the “Furniture Capital of the World”. Other industries that influence the area’s thriving economy include agriculture, machining, metalworking, plastics, telecommunications, textiles and tourism. Cable Corning Systems, Century Furniture, Commscope Inc., Hickory Springs Manufacturing Center and Frye Regional Medical Center are the top five employers in Catawba County. Newton is centrally located in the midst of the triangle formed by Asheville, Charlotte and Winston-Salem, giving area businesses a competitive edge.
Newton provides residents with competitive academic choices at the primary and secondary levels, as well as easy access to two local colleges found in nearby Hickory. The Catawba Valley Community College affords residents a route to a variety of career options, including faster paced technical programs and course loads transferable to four-year institutions, such as the Lenoir-Rhyne College. Lenoir-Rhyne has been providing residents with a liberal arts education in the community for over a century.
Newton and the surrounding area is filled with things to do and sites to see. The Green Room is Newton’s community theater, where audiences enjoy a wide array of cultural performances. The Catawba County Historical Museum, located in the Old Newton Courthouse, displays the colorful history of the Catawba Indian Tribe through numerous exhibits and preserved artifacts that have been unearthed in years since Newton’s founding. Nearby Hickory offers the Bakers Mountain Park, Catawba Science Center, the Crawdad’s minor league baseball, the Hickory Motor Speedway, the Hickory Museum of Art and some of the finest furniture shopping facilities, such as Hickory Furniture Mart.
Newton is nearby NC's portion of “America’s Most Scenic Drive”, the picturesque Blue Ridge Parkway. This 469-mile highway spreads throughout Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina and lies entirely within land owned by the National Park Service. Visitors can take a leisurely drive where each twist and turn reveals the splendor of stunning natural sites such as the Black Mountains, Chimney Rock Park and the spectacular views from the Mile High Swinging Bridge on Grandfather Mountain.
Newton, North Carolina’s unassuming ambiance couples with the conveniences of its proximity to Hickory to create a strikingly balanced lifestyle. This breathtaking region, which lies in NC’s Piedmont Plateau of the Piedmont Industrial Crescent, offers its citizens an unparalleled quality of life.
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