In 1791 , Colonel David Vance and General William Lee Davidson made a petition to the North Carolina House of Commons that said `` the people of Burke County west of the Appalachian Mountains want to be part of a new county . Part of Rutherford County would be made into a separate and distinct county . '' In 1791 , Colonel David Vance and General William Lee Davidson presented a petition to the North Carolina House of Commons that said `` petition of the inhabitants of that part of Burke County lying west of the Appalachian Mountains praying that a part of said county , and part of Rutherford County , be made into a separate and distinct county . ''