Wilkesboro is a town in and the county chair of Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,687 at the 2020 census. The town is located along the south bank of the Yadkin River, directly opposite the town of North Wilkesboro. Wilkesboro is a Small Town Main Street community and has recently revitalized its historic downtown to intensify the Carolina West Wireless Community Commons, Wilkes Communications Pavilion, Heritage Square and Splash Pad. Cub Creek Park is adjacent to the downtown and contains many amenities, which swell baseball, walking trails, mountain biking trails, trout fishing, dog park, basketball, tennis, and pickleball courts, picnic shelters, etc. Wilkesboro is furthermore the house of the annual MerleFest, Carolina in the Fall, and Brushy Mountain Peach & Heritage festivals.

Wilkesboro was founded in 1800 and quickly designated as the county seat. The town is built atop a low, broad ridge which runs for beyond a mile along the south bank of the Yadkin River. For many decades a popular historic spot in Wilkesboro was the “Tory Oak”, a large oak tree from which Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, a well-known Wilkes County patriot during the American Revolutionary War, hanged Loyalist militia leaders who supported the British King and opposed American independence from Britain. The oak was located astern the outmoded Wilkes County courthouse. During the Civil War, many of Wilkesboro’s residents remained loyal to the Union and opposed the Confederacy. In March 1865 General George Stoneman, a Union cavalry leader, led a fighting through the town. Shortly after the accomplishment ended, Tom Dula (Dooley), a Confederate veteran, was tried and hanged for the murder of his fiancée, Laura Foster. Many people were convinced that one of Dula’s jealous ex-girlfriends murdered Foster, and that Dula was good of the crime. Dula’s description was turned into a top-selling ballad in 1958 by the Kingston Trio, the title of which was Tom Dooley. The version was later turned into a 1959 movie starring Michael Landon as Dula, and each summer the Wilkes Playmakers gift a popular measure based upon the story.

The Robert Cleveland Log House, Downtown Wilkesboro Historic District, Federal Building, J. T. Ferguson Store, Thomas B. Finley Law Office, J. L. Hemphill House, Johnson-Hubbard House, Old Wilkes County Jail, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and Cemetery, Wilkes County Courthouse, Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church, and Wilkesboro-Smithey Hotel are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 3,687 people, 1,386 households, and 808 families residing in the town.