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
Coleville

community in N Stokes County near Cadwell Creek. Post office there in the late nineteenth century was Colesville.
Coley Gap

W Madison County between Puncheon Camp Branch and Divide Mountain.
Coleys Branch

rises in N Gaston County and flows NE into South Fork Catawba River.
Coleys Crossroads

See Vicksboro.
Colfax

community in W Guilford County. Alt. 972. Named for Schuyler Colfax (1823-85), vice president of the United States (1869-73).
Colfax Township

E Rutherford County. Named for Vice President Schuyler Colfax (1823-85).
Colington

scattered fishing community on Colington Island, NE Dare County.
Colington Creek

a waterway between Kitty Hawk Bay and Buzzard Bay; E of Colington Island and separating it from N Bodie Island, E Dare County.
Colington Island

in Roanoke Sound, NE Dare County. About 2 mi. from N to S and from E to w, it is separated from Bodie Island by Colington Creek. Consists of two islands, Little Colington and Big Colington. Named for Sir John Colleton (1608-66), one of the Lords Proprietors, to whom it was granted in 1663. Settled by the winter of 1664-65. Earlier known as Carlile Island in honor of Christopher Carleill, stepson of Sir Francis Walsingham, who accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his 1586 Florida-Virginia expedition as Drake's lieutenant general. Appears as Carlile Island on the Ogilby map, 1671, and as Colleton Island on both the Blome map, 1672, and the Moseley map, 1733. The Collet map, 1770, and the Mouzon map, 1775, have Collintons Island.
Colington Island Shoal

lies off the NW tip of Roanoke Island, Dare County, in the waters of Albemarle and Croatan Sounds.