Some place names included in The North Carolina Gazetteer contain terms that are considered offensive.
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.
"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 |
|---|---|
| Paw Creek |
rises in W Mecklenburg County and flows SW into Catawba River. |
| Paw Creek Township |
former township in W central Mecklenburg County, now township no. 12. |
| Paw Paw Ridge |
NW Swain County in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, extends SW from Cherry Knob on Jenkins Trail Ridge, lat. 35°30'50" N., long. 83°44'52" W. |
| Pawpaw Creek |
rises in NW Rockingham County and flows SW into Mayo River. |
| Paxton Creek |
rises in central McDowell County and flows SE approx. 2 mi. into Clear Creek. Formerly known as Poplar Cove Creek. |
| Payne Branch |
rises in NW Swain County and flows SE into Fontana Lake. |
| Payne Mountain |
SW Cherokee County, extends NE from Wolf Pen Gap to Harris Top. |
| Paynes Branch |
rises in SW Clay County and flows NE into Brasstown Creek. |
| Paynes Knob |
central Buncombe County NE of Rocky Knob. |
| Paynes Store |
community in SE Alexander County. |
