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
Blue Ridge

community in E Henderson County. Alt. 2,270.

Blue Ridge Cove Creek

rises in S Yancey County and flows N into South Toe River.

Blue Ridge Gap

S Transylvania County in Blue Ridge Mountains near the head of Toxaway Creek.

Blue Ridge Island

a sandy elevation in the middle of Angola Bay in S Duplin and N Pender Counties.

Blue Ridge Mountains

is the name applied to the E portion of the Appalachian Mountains, which see, extending from a few mi. N of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., to N Georgia. The average elevation is from 2,000 to 4,000 ft. The highest peaks of the Blue Ridge are in the Black Mountains of North Carolina, which see. The name comes from the hazy blue appearance of the mountains. The Cherokee Indians knew the section of the mountains as Sa-kohna-gas (blue).

Blue Ridge Parkway

an elongated park with a scenic motorway following the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. It averages more than 3,000 ft. above sea level. There are a number of wayside parks, marked historic sites (including cabins and farm buildings), a mineral museum, scenic overlooks, and other points of interest along the way. Construction began on September 11, 1935, and was completed in 1987 with the opening of the Linn Cove Viaduct, which see, around Grandfather Mountain. Extends 469 mi. The parkway enters North Carolina in NE Alleghany County and extends SW for 252.1 mi.

Blue Ridge Pinnacle

See Pinnacle.

Blue Ridge Township

SE Watauga County.

Blue Rock Branch

rises in E Yancey County and flows W into South Toe River.

Blue Rock Knob

E Yancey County between Blue Rock Branch and Sevenmile Ridge.