Canton is the second largest town in Haywood County, North Carolina, United States.

It is located about 17 miles (27 km) west of Asheville and is part of that city's metropolitan area.

What is known as the archeological Garden Creek site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located on the south side of the Pigeon River, approximately seven miles west of Canton.

[5][6] The Cherokee people are the most recent Native Americans to occupy this area, which is part of their homelands in the western Carolinas, southeastern Tennessee, and northeastern Georgia.

By 1790, Jonathan McPeters was farming the banks of the Pigeon River at the site where Canton developed.

"Old Field" often referred to areas cultivated or occupied by the Cherokee people, as this was known to be part of their traditional homelands.

The town was named for Canton, Ohio, the source of the steel for the bridge that was built across the Pigeon River.

[10] He visited Western North Carolina in 1905 looking for a location for a pulp mill to supply his company.

Thomson had great respect for the workers, believing those who had wealth should provide jobs for those who needed them, and began an annual Labor Day celebration in 1906, which continued a hundred years later.

[citation needed] On March 6, 2023, Pactiv Evergreen announced the mill would close in the summer, affecting 1,100 workers.

[16] On August 17, 2021, Tropical Storm Fred flooded the town near the Pigeon River.

[17] In nearby Cruso, six people died as a result from the flooding, many of which at Laurel Bank Campground.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town of Canton has a total area of 3.8 square miles (9.8 km2), all land.