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.
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
| Place | Description |
|---|---|
| Ela |
community in E Swain County on Tuckasegee River. Name is a Cherokee word meaning "earth." Alt. 1,830. |
| Ela Lake |
on Oconaluftee River in E Swain County. Covers 20 acres; max. depth 15 ft. Formed in 1925. Owned by the Aluminum Company of America and used to generate electric power. Formerly known as Onitalooga Lake. |
| Elah |
or community in NE Brunswick about 2 mi. SW of Leland. Settled prior to 1882. Inc. 1903 as Myrtle to meet the requirement that whiskey stills could be operated only in incorporated towns. Charter repealed 1905. Took name Elah from local Elah Baptist Church. |
| Elams |
community in NE Warren County between Walker Creek and Lizard Creek. Settled in 1880 and named for James Elam, local resident. Alt. 400. |
| Elbaville |
community in E Davie County. Name derived from the first syllables of names of two local families, Ellis and Bailey. Post office est. 1870. Alt. approx. 808. |
| Elberon |
community in S Warren County between Lees Branch and Buffalo Branch. Post office est. in 1897 but discontinued in 1954. |
| Elberta |
community in W Moore County. A peach-growing center named for the Elberta peach. Alt. approx. 661. |
| Elbethel |
community in SE Cleveland County. Named for El Bethel Methodist Church. |
| Elbow |
community in central Columbus County served by post office, 1894-1910. |
| Elbow Branch |
rises in N Swain County and flows NW into Hazel Creek. |
