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
Tips for Searching the Gazetteer

"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
Varina

former town in SW Wake County. Settled about 1890 and named for first postmaster's wife, who used the fanciful name, Varina, in her courtship correspondence. Alt. 426. Merged with Fuquay Springs to become part of Fuquay-Varina, which see, in 1963.
Varnals Creek

rises in the Cane Creek Mountains, S Alamance County, and flows NE into Haw River.
Varnum

community in S central Brunswick County on Lockwoods Folly River.
Vashti

community in NE Alexander County. Known as Cedar Run in the 1880s, when Cedar Academy operated there. Alt. approx. 1,240.
Vass

town in E Moore County. Known as Winder, for an official of the Raleigh and Augusta Air Line Railroad, prior to 1907, when it was inc. with its present name. Named for William Worrell Vass (1820-96), treasurer of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, 1845-90. Alt. 320.
Vaughan

town in E central Warren County. Alt. 353. Founded in 1851 as Brown's Siding or Brown's Turnout by Dr. Ridley Browne. Name changed to Vaughn in 1881 in honor of John F. Vaughn, local merchant and first postmaster. Inc. 1893.
Vaughan Creek

rises in South Carolina and flows N into Polk County, where it enters Lake Lanier.
Vaughan Hill

an elevation on the Fort Bragg Military Reservation, NW Cumberland County.
Vaughan's Springs

SE Surry County, mineral springs resort developed by the Gid Y. Vaughan family in the early twentieth century; in recent years, the site of Camp Wilson, a private summer camp for boys.
Vaught Gap

W Watauga County in Stone Mountains near the head of Beaverdam Creek.