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

Alphabetical Glossary Filter

"
3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Place Description
Open Branch

rises in N Jackson County and flows NW into Hornbuckle Creek.

Open Land

or a shrub bog area of approx. 50,000 acres in Carteret County about 12 mi. NE of Beaufort. An attempt to reclaim the area in 1926 was abandoned, but much of it is now included in a large experimental farm.

Open Ridge

S Yancey County between Rock Creek and South Toe River.

Opening, The

a clay and swamp area in E Pitt County between the head of Clayroot Swamp and Chicod Creek.

Ophir

community in N Montgomery County served by post office, 1883-1933. Settled shortly after the middle of the nineteenth century in the midst of a gold-producing area and named for the land furnishing gold for King Solomon's Temple in biblical days. Now an agricultural and timber-producing community.

Ophir Township

NW Montgomery County.

Oporauck

an otherwise unidentified designation appearing on the Comberford map, 1657, shown parallel with what is now Scuppernong River in Washington and Tyrrell Counties.

Opossum Swamp

rises in W Sampson County and flows S into Little Coharie Creek.

Ora

community in central Sampson County served by post office, 1886-1902.

Orange

community in W Sampson County between Caesar Swamp and Little Coharie Creek.