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 |
|---|---|
| Wheeler Creek |
is formed in W Northampton County by the junction of Gumberry Swamp and Lily Pond Creek and flows S into Roanoke River. The Collet map, 1770, shows Baker Mill at the mouth of the creek. |
| Wheeler's Mill |
See Barrows Mill Pond. |
| Whetstone |
community in N Granville County served by post office, 1889-1903. |
| Whetstone Branch |
rises in S Davie County and flows E into Peeler Creek. |
| Whetstone Creek |
rises in N Rockingham County and flows NE into Dan River. Tradition attributes the name to the fact that early white settlers found the Indians used stones from the stream to whet their knives. |
| Whetstone Ridge |
S Transylvania County, extends NE from Blue Ridge to West Fork French Broad River. |
| Whichard |
community in NE Pitt County served by post office, 1891-1926. |
| Whigg Branch |
rises in W Graham County and flows NE into Santeetlah Creek. |
| Whim Knob |
on the Haywood-Swain county line between Sugar Tree Lick and Strawberry Knob. Alt. approx. 5,400. Named for the fact that a whim, a horsepowered winch used to draw logs out of the valley, was operated on the peak for several years. |
| Whipping Creek |
rises in SW Dare County and flows SW into Long Shoal River. Appears as Aquascog River on the Comberford map, 1657, and under its present name on the Collet map, 1770. Aquascogoc was an Algonquian Indian village near the head of the Pungo River estuary; the name is believed to have meant "where a place for disembarking exists." |
