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 |
|---|---|
| Willow Springs |
community in S Wake County. Settled about 1800; named for weeping willows in the vicinity. Alt. 275. Post office est. 1899. |
| Willowbies Island |
See Bell Island. |
| Wills Creek |
rises in S Cumberland County and flows SE into Cape Fear River. |
| Willy Knob |
N central Alleghany County between Doughton and Black (formerly Carson) Mountains. |
| Wilmar |
community in SW Beaufort and NW Craven Counties. Alt. 57. |
| Wilmer Branch |
rises in SE Richmond County and flows SE into Poley Branch. |
| Wilmet |
community in NW Jackson County. Alt. 1,866. |
| Wilmington |
city and county seat, W New Hanover County on Cape Fear River. A port for oceangoing vessels, it is approx. 30 mi. from the Atlantic Ocean. Est. 1739-40. The town had a succession of names in its earliest years. Apparently settled and first known as New Carthage about 1733. New Liverpool seems to have been used briefly, followed by New Town or Newton, the name by which it was chartered in 1739-40, and finally Wilmington. Named for Spencer Compton (1673?-1743), Earl of Wilmington, patron of Governor Gabriel Johnston, during whose administration the town was chartered. Inc. 1760. The legislature met there, 1741, 1746, 1754, 1759-60, 1760-61, and 1764. Scene of coup d’état and racial violence, 1898. Alt. 38. Produces baked goods, fabricated metals, lumber, wooden containers, textiles, apparel, dairy products, paper boxes, chemicals, and refrigeration machinery. University of North Carolina at Wilmington is there. |
| Wilmington Beach |
S New Hanover County on the Atlantic Ocean. Est. approx. 1913. |
| Wilmington District |
at the time of the 1790 census, was composed of Bladen, Brunswick, Duplin, New Hanover, and Onslow Counties. |
