Native American Place Names

Chapanoke: a community in Perquimans County; named for an Indian village Chepanoc, whose name meant "Land of the Dead."

Chinquapin: a community in Duplin County; named after an Algonquian word for a type of chestnut.

Chocowinity: a town in Beaufort County; said to be named after an Indian word meaning "fish from many waters."

Cullowhee: a community in Jackson County; originally named Kullaughee Valley, a Native American name meaning "Place of the Lilies."

Hatteras: an Outer Banks island; apparently an English rendition of the Algonkian expression "there is less vegetation."

Hiwassee: a lake in Cherokee County; named after the Cherokee word awuhwá-si, meaning "a meadow."

Junaluska: a lake in Haywood County; named to honor Junaluska, the Cherokee chief who saved Andrew Jackson's life at the battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1812.

Nantahala: a National Forest in western North Carolina; named for the Cherokee word Nan-toh-ee-yah-heh-lih, meaning "Sun in the Middle" or "Land of the Noonday Sun."

Saxapahaw: a community in Alamance County; named for the Sissipahaw Indians who once lived in the area.

Swannanoa: a community in Buncombe County; name is derived from the Cherokee word Suwali-Nunna, meaning "trail of the Suwali tribe."

Tuckasegee: a river in Western North Carolina; named for Cherokee word meaning "crawling terrapin."