Copyright Notice: 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.
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
| Place | Description |
|---|---|
| Oriental |
town in S Pamlico County on Neuse River at the mouth of Smith Creek. First settled about 1870 by "Uncle Lou" Midgett and known as Smith's Creek. Later renamed for the Federal transport Oriental, which sank in 1862 near Bodie Island. The ship's nameplate had been found by Rebecca Midgett, wife of the town's first settler. |
| Orinoco |
community in NE Davidson County served by post office, 1886-1904. |
| Orion |
community in SE Ashe County. |
| Orlando |
community in S Macon County. |
| Orleans |
community in SW Lincoln County served by post office, 1886-1906. |
| Ormonds Township |
SE Greene County. Named for the Ormond family, which settled in the Ormondsville community prior to 1769. |
| Ormondsville |
community in E Greene County. Developed from a country crossroads store at the Ormond family plantation. |
| Orris's Run |
swampy stream rises in N central Beaufort County and flows SE into Pungo Creek. Named for Orris Waters who lived nearby. |
| Orrum |
town in S Robeson County. Settled as early as 1832 as a community around Big Branch Church. Inc. 1903. Orton was the first choice for a name in 1903 when a post office was about to be est., but as the name was already in use in Columbus County, it was rejected. Orrum was coined as a variant of Orton. |
| Orrum Township |
SE Robeson County. |
