Many North Carolina locales are named after founding fathers, from Greensboro to Franklin County to the town of Washington
by Warren L. Bingham

William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and John Penn are the only three signers of the Declaration of Independence who were from North Carolina, but they aren’t well represented in our state. There are, however, many places around our state that got their names from other founding fathers.

Among them are the town of Washington on the Pamlico River, after George Washington, and the town of Jefferson in the Blue Ridge, after Thomas Jefferson. Franklin County is named for Ben, as is Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Fayetteville is named for the Marquis de Lafayette, the young French officer who served under Washington. Thanks to a modern Broadway play, practically everyone now knows Alexander Hamilton, and there’s a small town named after him along the Roanoke River.

Even though he wasn’t from North Carolina, Gen. Nathanael Greene has several namesakes here, enough to make other Revolutionary leaders green with envy: Greensboro, Greenville and Greene County are all named in honor of the general. Additionally, a Greensboro brewer produces Natty Greene beer. Cheers!

Beyond its signers of the Declaration, North Carolina has produced its share of founding heroes, and some of them are honored with county namesakes. Among them: Gen. Francis Nash, Cornelius Harnett, Alfred Moore, Willie Jones, William Lenoir and Col. John Sampson.  

A version of this article originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of WALTER magazine.