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
Austin Mountain

W Yancey County near the head of Dryspring Branch.

Austins Mill

community in N Scotland County.

Auston Branch

rises in S Madison County and flows S into Morrow Branch.

Autreys Creek Township

See Otter Creek Township.

Autro

community in W Cleveland County served by post office, 1883-1904.

Autryville

town in W Sampson County. Settled about 1888; inc. 1891. Named for James L. Autry, who erected stores and est. a trading center there. Alt. 108.

Avalon

former community in W Rockingham County. Built about 1899 as a mill village on the Mayo River. On June 11, 1911, the mill was destroyed by fire, and soon afterward the 60 or so houses in Avalon, a Moravian church, a school, and a company store were moved on horse-drawn rollers to Mayodan, about 2 mi. sw.

Avalon Beach

area of extensive real estate development N of Wright Memorial in E Dare County. Once known as Moore's Shore.

Aventon

community in N Nash County on the head of Crooked Swamp. Named for the Avent family, which settled there about 1738; descendants still live on the original grant. A post office, Aventsville, opened there prior to 1828; Aventon post office operated from 1903 to 1911. Alt. 175.

Aventon Creek

See Abingdon Creek.