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
Sowell's Mill Creek

See Mill Creek.
Spaightville

a town inc. 1802 and authorized to be laid out on the "ne side of French Broad River … opposite, or a little above the upper Warm Springs" to accommodate visitors to the springs. It is not known whether the town ever existed, but it is reasonable to assume that the present Hot Springs, which see, in W Madison County is its "descendant." Spaightville was undoubtedly named for Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight (1758-1802), who died approx. 2 months before the act was passed.
Spain Branch

rises in S Buncombe County and flows SE into Avery Creek.
Spainhour Creek

rises in central Caldwell County and flows SW approx. 4 mi. into Lower Creek.
Spains Creek

rises in SE Onslow County and flows SW into Sulliers Bay.
Spangenberg Creek

See Silas Creek.
Spanish Oak Branch

rises in W central Transylvania County and flows S into Catheys Creek.
Spanish Oak Gap

S Haywood County on Shining Creek.
Spanish Oak Hill

SW Alamance County.
Spanish Oak Mountain

central Avery County.