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.
"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
| Place | Description |
|---|---|
| Upward |
community in E Henderson County served by post office, 1877-1905. First called Crossroads, being at junction of Ridge Road and Howard Gap Road. Took present name from a local estate of a South Carolina summer resident. |
| Urahaw Swamp |
rises in S Northampton County and flows NE into Potecasi Creek. The name appears in local records as early as 1719. |
| Uree |
community in NW Rutherford County on Broad River. |
| Utah Mountain |
central Haywood County between Snakeden Top and Fulbright Cove. Named for the fact that a band of Mormons lived there in the 1880s and 1890s. Their practice of polygamy made them unpopular with their neighbors, and the Mormons were forced to leave North Carolina. Their houses, barns, fences, and other property were abandoned, and the ruins still exist. Orchards and vineyards, as well as ornamental flowering shrubs, are now growing wild in the vicinity. |
| Utley's Creek |
rises in S Wake County near Holly Springs and flows SW into Big White Oak Creek. |
| Uwharrie (u-whar-ee) |
community in NW Montgomery County served by post office, 1876-1914. |
| Uwharrie Mountains |
extend NE-SW across Montgomery, Randolph, and Stanly Counties. The Yadkin River flows through the SW end. Geologists describe the mountains as isolated, residual knobs that have resisted erosion and weathering better than the surrounding countryside. Probably formed several hundred million years ago by a number of explosive-type volcanoes. John Lawson visited the area in 1701 and used the name Heighwaree. Morrow Mountain State Park and Town Creek Indian Mound Historic Site are there. There are many named peaks, particularly in Montgomery and Randolph Counties. Alts. are not over 1,800 ft. |
| Uwharrie National Forest |
largely in W Montgomery County but also in SW Randolph, SE Davidson, and NW Stanly Counties. Covers 204,682 acres, with headquarters in Troy. Originally laid out as a purchase unit in 1934 and made a National Forest in 1961. |
| Uwharrie River |
rises in NW Randolph County, flows S into Montgomery County, then flows SW to join the Yadkin River in forming the Pee Dee River. The source of the Uwharrie River is approx. 840 ft. above sea level, and the elevation at the junction of the Uwharrie and Yadkin Rivers is approx. 280 ft. Appears as Uharie River on the Moseley map, 1733, but is incorrectly placed and out of proportion. The Collet map, 1770, makes the necessary corrections but calls it Voharee Creek. |
| Uwharrie Township |
W Montgomery County. |
