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
Cotton Creek

rises in E Montgomery County and flows E into Moore County, where it enters Cabin Creek.

Cotton Grove

community in S central Davidson County.

Cotton Grove Township

W central Davidson County.

Cotton Hammock

E Carteret County between community of Stacy and Piney Point.

Cotton Patch

former community on Pigeon River in N Haywood County. A number of years ago, a resident planted a small patch of cotton there, and his wife used it to weave cloth. The patch is now grown over and the place abandoned, but the name persists.

Cotton Patch Bay

an arm of Big Colly Bay in NE Bladen County.

Cotton's Crossing

See Tuscarora Beach.

Cottonville

community in S Stanly County. Named prior to the Civil War because of the quantity of cotton grown in the vicinity.

Cottonwood

community in S Mecklenburg County served by post office, 1890-1900.

Cottrell Hill

community in E Caldwell County on Zacks Fork. Named for William Cottrell, who settled there shortly before the Civil War.