Source: Colin Campbell, NEWS & OBSERVER, 1/14/19


For those of us who don’t often get outside the cities — or very far beyond our own towns -- North Carolina geography can be confusing. Franklinton is in Franklin County, but the town of Franklin sits 300 miles west in Macon County. Meanwhile the town of Macon is in Warren County, not all that far from Franklin County. We’re a state where place names get recycled and there’s a good chance your GPS will send you astray. North Carolina is home to Warsaw — not because of Polish immigrants but because a train conductor passing through in the 1800s happened to be reading a novel called “Thaddeus of Warsaw,” according to The North Carolina Gazetteer. We also have our own Bolivia, Milwaukee and Scranton.

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