Monday, November 08, 2010

Gazetteer fun: J-L

The highly entertaining and educational North Carolina Gazetteer has been updated for the first time since it was first published in 1968.

We figured we would highlight some of our favorites from the book every now and then. This version will look at random listings that begin with letters, J, K and L. (Click here to see some older versions.) There are some 2,ooo-plus listings in the Gazetteer, so feel free to search for your own faves.


Japan, former community in n(orth)e(ast) Graham County on forks of Tobacco and Panther creeks. Est. about 1908 as supply center for surrounding lumbering camps. Named for "Japan clover" (Lespedeza striata) growing in the area. During World War II, local residents began calling it MacArthur for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, but the post office name was never changed. Inundated by water of Fontana Lake, 1944.


Kill'em Swamp rises in s(outh)e(ast) Hertford County and flows n(orth)w(est) into Chinkapin Creek.


Longs Delight appears on the Ogilby map, 1671, near the upper portion of the Cape Fear River. It was a name assigned probably for Capt. Anthony Long, member of an expedition led by Capt. William Hilton in 1663 to explore the lower Cape Fear region. See also Lockwoods Folly Inlet ... which states that [f]requently in the seventeenth century, however, the word "folly" was used in the sense of the French folie (delight; favorite abode), and it formed a part of the name of English estates.

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