Would have been something to see Buxton in 1870. But all the names were probably different too.
North to south...
AVON, NC was founded in 1883 when the U.S. Postal Service established a post office and officially renamed the village Avon, which was historically known as Kinnakeet. A post office was first established in Kinnakeet in 1873, but the name was changed to Avon by the Postal Service in 1883.
Key Points
Original Name: Avon was historically known as Kinnakeet, an Algonquin term.
Name Change: The name was changed to Avon in 1883 by the U.S. Post Office.
Cultural Significance: The name Kinnakeet still informally refers to the older part of the village and is used by residents to honor their history and culture.
RODANTHE, NC, was not officially "founded" as a town but rather developed from the Native American Chicamacomico settlement into distinct villages by the mid to late 1700s, with the Post Office establishing the name Rodanthe in 1874. English settlers began populating the area of Chicamacomico in the mid to late 1700s, leading to the establishment of a unified settlement called Chicamacomico by the late 1800s. When the U.S. Life-Saving Station was built in 1874, it was named Chicamacomico, but a separate post office established the same year was named Rodanthe.
Key Dates:
Mid-to-Late 1700s: English settlers populated the area that was originally called Chicamacomico.
Late 1800s: Distinct settlements formed on the Chicamacomico Banks, with the area later known as Rodanthe and Waves being lumped into one settlement called Chicamacomico.
1874: A U.S. Life-Saving Station was established and named Chicamacomico, while a post office was established and named Rodanthe.
Late 1870s: The village of Chicamacomico was divided into North Rodanthe and South Rodanthe.
1939: South Rodanthe was renamed Waves.
SALVO, NC, was formally founded when its post office was established in 1901, at which point the village's name was officially changed from Clarks (or Clarksville) to Salvo. The name "Salvo" itself is believed to have originated during the American Civil War, stemming from a legend of Union sailors marking the unlabeled settlement on their charts with the word "salvo," meaning a firing of cannons.
BUXTON, NC, was formally created in 1873 when its post office, initially named "The Cape," was established, with the area later renamed Buxton by 1882. However, the community existed as a fishing village even earlier, with some sources suggesting its origins trace to the late 1700s and a man named George Rufus developing a fishing community, though the community did not become a thriving area with a post office and schoolhouse until around 1901.
Key Dates in Buxton's History:
Late 1700s: A fishing community was established by George Rufus.
1873: The formal creation of the community, with the opening of a post office named "The Cape".
1882: The area was officially renamed Buxton.
FRISCO, NC was officially named in 1898 when a post office was established, though the village had been settled by English settlers as "Trent" in the 1700s. The name Frisco was chosen by the postmaster, who was inspired by his love for San Francisco, CA, and a shorter version was used since another San Francisco already existed in the postal system.
Key historical points:
Early Settlement (1700s): English settlers arrived and the area was known as Trent.
1879: A life-saving station was established at a prominent local landmark, Creed's Hill.
1898: The post office was established in Trent, but the name was changed to Frisco because "Trent" was considered too similar to the existing Trenton post office on the mainland.
HATTERAS was first settled by Native Americans around 500 AD, though it wasn't a formal "founded" town in the European sense. The name "Hatterask" first appeared on an English map in 1585, and the first recorded European settlers arrived by 1711. The area didn't become a more developed community until a violent gale opened the modern Hatteras Inlet in 1846, leading to the establishment of the first Hatteras post office in 1858.
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