This content is from the North Carolina Gazetteer, edited by William S. Powell and Michael Hill. Copyright © 2010 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

Some place names included in The North Carolina Gazetteer contain terms that are considered offensive.

"The North Carolina Gazetteer is a geographical dictionary in which an attempt has been made to list all of the geographic features of the state in one alphabet. It is current, and it is historical as well. Many features and places that no longer exist are included; many towns and counties for which plans were made but which never materialized are also included. Some names appearing on old maps may have been imaginary, but many of them also appear in this gazetteer.

Each entry is located according to the county in which it is found. I have not felt obliged to keep entries uniform. The altitude of a place, the date of incorporation of a city or town, may appear in the beginning of one entry and at the end of another. Some entries may appear more complete than others. I have included whatever information I could find. If there is no comment on the origin or meaning of a name, it is because the information was not available. In some cases, however, resort to an unabridged dictionary may suggest the meaning of many names."

--From The North Carolina Gazetteer, 1st edition, preface by William S. Powell

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Place Description
Lake Toxaway

resort community in W Transylvania County on Toxaway River. The original Toxaway Inn, built in 1901, became a popular resort for the wealthy. The lake, formed in 1903, covered 540 acres, with a shoreline of 15 mi. and a max depth of 50 ft. The dam was destroyed in the flood of 1916 but was rebuilt in 1961. The lake now covers 900 acres, the largest privately owned lake in W North Carolina, and is surrounded by homes. There is also a golf course and an airport in the community. The name is derived from the Cherokee word Tortzoo-whah (redbird).