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
Ransomville

community in E Beaufort County at the head of North Creek. Named for Confederate general Matthew W. Ransom (1826-1904).

Rantersville

See LaGrange.

Raoul Branch

rises in S Buncombe County near the Biltmore Estate and flows SW into Four-mile Branch.

Rapid Creek Ridge

NE Swain County in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a short spur extending S from Dashoga Ridge, lat. 35°39'10" N., long. 83°15' W.

Rapier Mill Creek

rises in SW Cherokee County and flows SE and NE into Nottely River.

Ratcliff Cove

central Haywood County, forms a semicircle on the head of a tributary of Raccoon Creek W of Ratcliff Mountain.

Ratcliff Mountain

central Haywood County between Bird Creek and Ratcliff Cove.

Rattan Bay

W Piney Island in NE Carteret County bounded by Neuse River and North, East, and South Bays. Approx. 1 mi. wide and ¾ mi. long.

Rattan Ridge

a strip of higher ground in the Dismal Swamp in SE Gates County.

Rattle Shoal Creek

rises in N Gaston County and flows NE into South Fork Catawba River.