The Old Butler site, located three miles southeast of here and now under Watauga Lake, was settled before 1770 by John Honeycutt and was named for Judge R.R. Butler in 1868. Originally a farming, milling, and mining community, Butler became a shipping point for lumber, iron ore, and trade goods when the railroad arrived in 1902. Floods plagued the area, and the 1940 flood caused TVA to build Watauga Dam, permanently flooding Butler and the surrounding area in 1948. Three miles southeast of here, also now under Watauga Lake, L.L. Maples established Aenon Seminary in 1871. Its name changed to Holly Springs College in 1886 and to Watauga Academy in 1906, and by 1933 it was a public school. Professor James Hamilton Smith was an early prominent leader of Aenon Seminary. Congressman B. Carroll Reece, a graduate of Watauga Academy, belonged to its first graduating class in 1911. Bricks removed from Watauga Academy were used to construct the sanctuary of the Virginia Avenue Methodist Church in Bristol.