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
Smith Island

SE Brunswick County at the mouth of Cape Fear River and bounded on the N by Corncake Inlet. Also known as Bald Head Island. The SE tip is Cape Fear, and the SW portion is known as Bald Head because of its round, sandy surface. The island is approx. 17,000 acres in area and contains palmetto trees and other interesting vegetation and wildlife. Named for Landgrave Thomas Smith, who acquired it in 1690. Appears as Landgrave Thomas Smith's Island on the Moseley map, 1733, on which the present Bald Head is marked Barren Head. The Collet map, 1770, shows only "Bald Head." When Thomas Smith willed the island to his four sons in 1738, he said that its old name was Cedar Island. Scene of World War II training as auxiliary site of Camp Davis. Island developed in 1974. Access by ferry; no state-maintained roads or motorized traffic.
Smith Mill Creek

rises in central Buncombe County near Deaver View Mountain and flows W through the city of Asheville into French Broad River.
Smith Millpond

S Wayne County on Sleepy Creek.
Smith Mountain

E Burke County. Alt. approx. 2,000.
Smith River

rises in W Virginia and flows NE to a point approx. 3 mi. N of the North Carolina-Virginia state line, where it turns S and flows SE into N Rockingham County. It enters Dan River at Eden. Called Irvin River by William Byrd in 1728 and appears as Irvine River on the Moseley map, 1733. Named for Alexander Irvine, professor of mathematics at the College of William and Mary and a member of Byrd's survey party of the North Carolina-Virginia line. Over time came to be known as Smith River for hunters Gideon and Daniel Smith, who settled on the upper waters of the river. Appears as Smith River on the Price map, 1808.
Smith Township

E central Duplin County.
Smith Walker Mountain

SW Wilkes County between Warrior and Beaver Creeks. Named for a nineteenth-century resident of the area.
Smith's Corner

community in S central Camden County. Named for a physician who practiced there about 1840-70. Alt. 10.
Smith's Creek

See Oriental.
Smith's Ferry

See Hinton's Quarter.