NASH COUNTY, NC: PHYSICAL LOCATIONS
researched: September and December, 2009
posted: 6 October 2009
comments: earl.bell3@gmail.com
[SOURCE: William S. Powell, THE NORTH CAROLINA GAZETTEER (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1968]
Bailey – town in southwest Nash County; settled about 1860; incorporated in 1908; elevation 233. [page 19]
Beaverdam Swamp – rises in north Nash County and flows northeast into Fishing Creek [page 34]
Bear Branch – rises in west Nash County and flows southeast into Sapony Creek. [page 28]
Big Peachtree Creek – rises in eastern Franklin County and flows south east into Nash County where it is joined by Little Peachtree Creek to form Stony Creek. [page 47]
Castalia Township – in northwest Nash County [page 92]
Compass Creek – rises in central Nash County and flows southeast into Edgecombe County to enter Tar River one mile east of the Edgecombe – Nash County line [page 116]
Coopers Township – in south central Nash County; including Sandy Cross [page 119 and personal knowledge]
Dry Wells Township – located in southwest Nash County; established in 1903 by NC General Assembly [page 150]
Ferrells Township – located in southwest Nash County [page 170]
Fishing Creek – rises in east Vance County and flows northeast in Vance and Warren Counties, and southeast and south in Warren County, to the Franklin-Warren, Halifax-Nash, and Halifax-Edgecome County lines to a point seven miles from Tarboro from where it flows south into the Tar River [page 172]
Great Branch – rises in south Nash County and flows east into the Tar River [page 201] (Converyance of property in Wayne County, NC dated 14 May 1829, Book 15, page 546 also mentions Bear Creek and Peters Branch as streams in close proximity to the Great Branch; only the Great Branch is mentioned in Powell’s NORTH CAROLINA GAZETEER. 1968)
Griffins Township – located in northwest Nash County [page 205]
Henry Branch – rises in west Nash County and flows southeast into Sapony Creek, mentioned as early as 1778. [page 222]
Jackson Township – located in south Nash County [page 250]
Little Peachtree Creek – rises in east Franklin County and flows south east into Nash County where it joings Big Peachtree Creek to form Stony Creek. [page 290]
Little Sapony Creek – rises in west Nash County and flows southeast into Sappony Creek [page 292]
Mannings Township – located in west Nash County [page 311]
Maple Creek – rises in south Nash County and flows southeast into Tar River [page 311]
Momeyer – community in west central Nash County, established about 1910, previously known as Bass’s Crossroads, altitute 180. [page 331]
Nash County – formed in 1777 from Edgecombe County. Located in the northeast section of the state, bounde by Edgecombe, Wilson, Johnston, Franklin and Halifax counties; area of 552 square miles; county seat of Nashville, elevation 180; contains the township of Bailey, Castalia, Coopers, Dry Wells, Ferrells, Griffins, Jackson, Mannings, Nashville, North Whitakers and Stony Creek; produces tobacco, corn, wheat, oats, peanuts, cotton, soybeans, poultry, hogs, livestock, bakery products, texitiles, furniture, lumber, apparel. [oage 345]
Nashville – town and county seat located in central Nash County; laid out and incorporated in 1815; produces lumber and apparel. [page 345]
Nashville Township – located in central Nash County, east of the county seat of Nashville. [page 345 and personal knowledge]
North Whitakers Township – located in northeast Nash County [page 358]
Oak Level Township – in south east Nash County [page 359]
Pig Basket Creek – rises in northwest Nash County and flows southeast into Stony Creek; according to local legend the name derived from a settler who dropped newborn pigs he had in a basket in the swollen stream [page 381]
Sandy Cross – crossroads community in south Nash County. [page 438]
Sapony Creek – rises in west Nash County and flows south east into the Tar River [page 439]
Stony Creek – formed in west Nash County by the junction of Big and Little Peachtree creeks, flows south east into the Tar River [page 477]
Tar River – rises in west central Person County and flows south east through Granville, Franklin, Nash, Edgecombe and Pitt counties to Beaufort County where it becomes the Pamlico River. [page 488]
Westry (formerly Westry’s Siding) – older town settled in about 1880, incorporated in 1909, in east central Nash County, on an old railroad track, that in the first decades of the twentieth century had a couple of all purpose country stores including one owned by John Sidney Proctor [1872 – 1934]; now on Old Carriage Road with onlt an identifying sign without commercial establishments. [page 527 and personal knowledge passed down in the Bell and Proctor Families].
[Unidentified streams in Nash County by Powell’s Gazetteer that are identified in early deeds include: March or Marsh Branch (near south side of Peachtree Creek Jan. 1805); Patience Brance (near north side of Sappony Creek – Oct. 1777); Manning’s Branch, (near Lemon’s Road in April, 1837); Lemon’s Road (near Manning’s Branch in April, 1837); Spring Branch (near Sappony Swamp and Henry’s Branch in April 1812); Great Bare Branch (in March 1796); Barrenline Branch (near Sapony Swamp); mouth of Gust Branch (near Ivy Branch in April, 1854); Ivy Branch (near mouth of Gust Branch in April, 1854); Reedy Branch (near northside of Sappony Creek, Feb. 1762); head of Sikes Branch (March 1795)