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

"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
Shehan

community in N Henderson County.
Shehan Crossroads

community in NE Polk County at the Rutherford County line.
Shelby

city and county seat in central Cleveland County. Alt. 853. Inc. 1843; charter repealed 1847. Reincorporated 1849. Named for Col. Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), Revolutionary War commander. Produces textiles, bakery products, hosiery, apparel, fiberglass, chemicals, and glass products.
Shelby Township

former township in S central Cleveland County, now township no. 6.
Shell Branch

rises in W Jackson County and flows SW into Savannah Creek.
Shell Castle

NE Carteret County, an island in Pamlico Sound between Casey Island and North Rock near the tip of Portsmouth Island at Ocracoke Inlet. Built by John Gray Blount and John Wallace in 1790 on an earlier island known as Old Rock. At one time a dwelling house, a tavern, warehouses, a lumberyard, a wharf, and a notary public's office were there. Appears on the Price map, 1808.
Shell Island

NE Carteret County in Core Sound between Wainwright Island and Core Banks. Named as early as the Moseley map, 1733. See also Hunting Quarter Sound.
Shell Knob

on the Buncombe-Henderson county line NE of Glady Fork Gap. Alt. approx. 4,020.
Shell Point

the SE point of Harkers Island in SE Carteret County. Mound of shells, apparently left by Indians, gave the point its name. Indian remains have been found there.
Shell Ridge

NE Mitchell County between Blevins Branch and Broad Branch.