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.

Preface to the 2nd edition
Preface to the 1st edition
Acknowledgments
Tips for Searching the Gazetteer

"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

Alphabetical Glossary Filter

"
3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Reset
Place Description
Mauls Swamp

rises in N Craven County and flows SW into Swift Creek.
Mauney Cove

S Haywood County on the head of Mauney Cove Branch.
Mauney Cove Branch

rises in central Haywood County and flows NE into Factor Branch.
Mauney Gap

central Graham County between Snowbird Creek and Long Creek.
Maury

town in E Greene County. Alt. 78. Est. late nineteenth century. Inc. 1911. Named for Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-73), naval officer and oceanographer.
Maw Point

peninsula in E Pamlico County extending into Pamlico Sound and forming the SE side of Fisherman Bay.
Max Patch Mountain

W Madison County at the SW end of Buckeye Ridge. Alt. 4,629.
Maxton

town in W Robeson County on Big Shoeheel Creek. Alt. 197. Inc. 1874 as Shoe Heel; changed to Tilden in 1877 to honor Samuel J. Tilden (1814-86), Democratic nominee for president, 1876; to Quhele in 1879, probably from a form of the Gaelic word Caoile (the narrow part of a stream); to Shoe Heel in 1881, for the imagined meaning of Quhele; and to Maxton in 1886. Local tradition says that the area was long known as Mackstown because of the many people of Scottish descent living there whose names begin with Mc or Mac; it was changed to Maxton by postal authorities when the first post office was est. in 1866. An earlier post office serving the community was Cowper's Hill, est. 1811 a mi. or so E of the present town. Carolina College operated there, 1908-26, and Presbyterian Junior College, 1929-60; Carolina Military Academy is there now.
Maxton Township

W Robeson County.
Maxwell

community in NE Columbus County.