Jackson County Airport (North Carolina)
airport in North Carolina
Jackson County Airport (FAA LID: 24A) is a small airfield situated on a ridge about three miles (4.8 km) southeast of the town of Sylva, the county seat of Jackson County, North Carolina, United States. It is less than 1 mile west of the unincorporated town of Cullowhee, the home of Western Carolina University. The airport is owned and operated by the county. It sits at an elevation of 2,857 feet (871 meters) and covers an area of 147 acres (59 ha). The airport's traffic consists mostly of light single and twin engine private aircraft.
History
The Jackson County Airport was once a dirt airstrip in the Addie community east of Sylva in the 1930s. The site has been since developed, but it was used as an airport until the 1960s. In the 1960s, a grassy airstrip was opened where the baseball stadium and nursery now stand on the Western Carolina University campus. This airport was in a bad location, as at one end was Forest Hills Road and at the other end were high-voltage power lines. It was also very close to the Cordelia Camp Laboratory School, Cullowhee Creek, Speedwell Road, and later EJ Whitmore Stadium.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Jackson County Airport (North Carolina)” is airport in North Carolina. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Jackson, County and Airport, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “airport in North Carolina” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6117013. Authority coordinates are 35.318, -83.210. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jackson County Airport (North Carolina)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jackson County Airport (North Carolina) primary sources, Jackson County Airport (North Carolina) archive and Jackson research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jackson County Airport (North Carolina)”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jackson County Airport (North Carolina)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.