The two towns of Abingdon and Jonesboro, respectively north and south of
the line, were the centres of activity. In Jonesboro the log
court-house, with its clapboard roof, was abandoned, and in its place a
twenty-four-foot-square building of hewn logs was put up; it had a
shingled roof and plank floors, and contained a justice's bench, a
lawyers' and clerk's bar, and a sheriff's box to sit in. The county of
Washington was now further subdivided, its southwest portion being
erected into the county of Greene, so that there were three counties of
North Carolina west of the mountains. The court of the new county
consisted of several justices, who appointed their own clerk, sheriff,
attorney for the State, entry-taker, surveyer, and registrar. They
appropriated money to pay for the use of the log-house where they held
sessions, laid a tax of a shilling specie on every hundred pounds for
the purpose of erecting public buildings, laid out roads, issued
licenses to build mills, and bench warrants to take suspected persons.
[Footnote: Ramsey, 277. The North Carolina Legislature, in 1783, passed
an act giving Henderson two hundred thousand acres, and appointed Joseph
Martin Indian agent, arranged for a treaty with the Cherokees, and
provided that any good men should be allowed to trade with the Indians.]

Abingdon was a typical little frontier town of the class that
immediately succeeded the stockaded hamlets. A public square had been
laid out, round which, and down the straggling main street, the few
buildings were scattered; all were of logs, from the court house and
small jail down. There were three or four taverns. The two best were
respectively houses of entertainment for those who were fond of their
brandy, and for the temperate. There were a blacksmith shop and a couple
of stores. [Footnote: One was "kept by two Irishmen named Daniel and
Manasses Freil" (_sic_; the names look very much more German than