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
Franklin County

was formed in 1779 from Bute County, which see, when that county was divided to form Franklin and Warren Counties. Located in the NE section of the state, it is bounded by Nash, Wake, Granville, Vance, and Warren Counties. It was named for Benjamin Franklin (1706-90). Area: 494 sq. mi. County seat: Louisburg, with an elevation of 280 ft. Townships, now numbered 1 to 10, were formerly Dunn, Harris, Youngsville, Franklinton, Hayesville, Sandy Creek, Gold Mine, Cedar Rock, Cypress Creek, and Louisburg. Produces corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, Irish potatoes, hogs, livestock, marble, aluminum products, pharmaceuticals, electronics, lumber, and fabricated metals.
Franklin Gap

SW Cherokee County S of Franklin Mountain.
Franklin Mountain

SW Cherokee County between Hothouse Branch and Wolf Creek.
Franklin Spring

former resort in NW Person County. Flourished in the early twentieth century. Mineral water bottled and sold.
Franklin Township

central Macon County.
Franklinsville

See Franklinville.
Franklinsville Township

E central Randolph County.
Franklinton

town in W Franklin County. Alt. 432. Est. in 1839 as Franklin Depot on land of Shemuel Kearney. Name changed to Franklinton in 1842, when it was inc. Produced textiles.
Franklinton Township

former township in W Franklin County, now township no. 4.
Franklinville

town in E Randolph County on Deep River. Inc. 1847 as Franklinsville. Named in honor of Jesse Franklin (1760-1832), governor of North Carolina, 1820-21. Site acquired in 1801 by Christian Morris, who built a gristmill there; purchased in 1820 by Elisha Coffin, who, with others, built a cotton mill there in 1838.