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 |
|---|---|
| Puncheon Fork Creek |
rises in E Madison County and flows SW into Big Laurel Creek. |
| Pungo |
community in NE Beaufort County on Indian Run near its junction with Pungo River. Alt. approx. 5. |
| Pungo Creek |
rises in Great Swamp, N central Beaufort County, and flows SE into Pungo River. Appears as Machapunga Creek on the Moseley map, 1733. |
| Pungo Lake |
natural lake in S Washington and NW Hyde Counties in East Dismal Swamp. Inaccessible except through private property; not open to the public. Owned by Roper Lumber Company. Covers 2,700 acres, with a max. depth of 5 ft. Name is shortened from name for the Machapunga Indians. |
| Pungo River |
rises in East Dismal Swamp, Washington County, and flows generally se, forming the Beaufort-Hyde county line into Pamlico River near its mouth. Appears as Machapounga River on the Comberford map, 1657, and as Machaponga on the Moseley map, 1733, and other maps until 1807, when it appears, apparently for the first time, as Pungo River on the William Tatham map. Named for the Machapunga Indians, whose name is said to have meant "bad dust" or "much dust." |
| Punkin Creek |
See Pumpkin Creek. |
| Puppy Creek |
rises in E Hoke County and flows S into Rockfish Creek. |
| Pups Branch |
rises in NW McDowell County and flows SE into Armstrong Creek. |
| Pups Branch Ridge |
See Pups Ridge. |
| Pups Ridge |
approx. 2 mi. long, NW McDowell County in Pisgah National Forest. Formerly known as Big Ridge and as Pups Branch Ridge. |
