Editor’s Note: Western North Carolina is rich with untold stories—many resting quietly in local cemeteries. In this Tombstone Tales series, we explore the lives of people from our region’s past whose legacies, whether widely known or nearly forgotten, helped shape the place we call home.
FLETCHER, N.C. — The next time you pass the town limit sign for Fletcher, North Carolina, consider the man behind the name. Dr. George Washington Fletcher left a lasting legacy as a physician, civic leader, and one of the founders of a community that still carries his name.
Born May 4, 1829, in the Cane Creek and Hoopers Creek area of what was then Buncombe County, Fletcher pursued a career in medicine. He studied in Asheville and later graduated from Charleston Medical College. When the Civil War began, he served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. Following the war, he returned home and resumed his medical practice…