community in W central Bladen County.

town in W Gaston County. Inc. 1893. Named for Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-98), discoverer of process for making steel from cast iron. Iron ore had been found in the vicinity, and there were hopes that steel mills might be est. there. Produces textiles, machinery, and chemicals. Alt. 912.

community on the head of Flat Creek in SW Jackson County.

See Biltmore.

community in E Wayne County. Named for Henry Best, who had a grant of land there in 1743. Alt. 126.

community in SE Wayne County served by post office, 1882-1910.

community in N Jackson County on Scott Creek. Alt. 2,145.

See Old Town.

town in W Forsyth County on Muddy Creek. Settled 1759, inc. 1839, but no longer active in municipal affairs. Named by the Moravians, whose second or "new town" it was, for the biblical town of Bethany. Refugees during the French and Indian War found protection within the Bethania stockade, and many of them remained to build homes there. Alt. 789.

NW Forsyth County.