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
Maiden Point

extends into Jones Bay, NE Pamlico County. Named because the shoreline on maps resembles a female breast.

Maidenhair Falls

S Jackson County on Trays Island Creek ½ mi. N of Fairfield Lake. Alt. 3,640.

Main Canal

extends NW from N central Washington County, where it receives the waters drained from East Dismal Swamp by a system of canals and channels them into Kendricks Creek.

Main Channel

in Bogue Sound SW Carteret County leading S into Bogue Inlet.

Main Creek

rises in NE Buncombe County and flows NW into Reems Creek.

Maine

See Oak Grove.

Maitland

community in central Sampson County served by post office, 1887-1904.

Majolica

community in N central Rowan County on Southern Railway. Alt. 713. It is said that while V. C. McBee, railroad superintendent, was considering a name for the termination of a siding there, his clerk, T. C. McNeely, brought in a green majolica pot filled with drinking water. McNeely suggested that the water be used for christening and that the place be named for the pot.

Major Hills

mountain in S Alamance County.

Makatoka

community in NW Brunswick County.