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
Roaring Creek Township

SW Avery County.

Roaring Fork

rises in E Madison County and flows S into Big Laurel Creek.

Roaring Fork Creek

rises in W Macon County and flows SW into Nantahala River.

Roaring Fork Mountain

W Madison County parallel to Roaring Fork.

Roaring Fork Ridge

SW Macon County between Roaring Fork Creek and the head of Rough Fork.

Roaring Gap

central Buncombe County N of Rice Knob in Elk Mountains.

Roaring River

is formed in central Wilkes County by the junction of Middle Prong Roaring River and North Prong Roaring River and flows SE into Yadkin River. Named because of an early description of the river, which said that it "comes rushing and roaring" out of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Roaring Spout Creek

rises in E Yancey County and flows E into Browns Creek.

Roaring Spout Falls

on Roaring Spout Creek, E Yancey County.

Robbins

town in N Moore County on Bear Creek. Known as early as 1828 as Mechanicks Hill and Mechanicsville for David Kennedy, local mechanic and gunsmith. Later known as Elise, and inc. 1935 as Hemp. Name changed in 1943 to Robbins for Karl Robbins, owner of a local mill. Alt. 424.