Several types of maps are useful for genealogists. Some give historical background of the area; others show migration routes such as roads, rivers, and railroads. Topographical maps show physical and manmade features, such as creeks, hills, trails, and roads used as persons came to North Carolina. Sometimes maps also include cemeteries and churches. Plat and land ownership maps, as well as other types of maps, are described in the “Maps” section of the United States Research Outline (30972). In the Family History Library Catalog, atlases are listed in the Locality Search under “Maps.”

Many finding aids are available to help you locate maps that identify places or show boundary changes in the state. The best collections of maps are at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the North Carolina State Archives. These collections include maps produced by the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Geological Survey, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The Family History Library has a set of detailed highway maps:

North Carolina. State Highway Commission. Planning and Research Department. Maintenance Maps. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973. (FHL films 924100, 924101, and 924105; computer number 241395.) These maps were prepared in 1972 and include all counties.

Clay, James W. North Carolina Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1975. (FHL book 975.6 E3c; film 1597810 item 2; computer number 244258.) This atlas shows the formation of counties and the patterns of European settlement.

Cummings, William P. North Carolina in Maps. Raleigh, N.C.: State Department of Archives and History, 1966. (FHL map case 975.6 E7c; computer number 118853.) This is a set of 15 maps created between 1585 and 1896.

Gioe, Joan Colbert. North Carolina: Her Counties, Her Townships, and Her Towns. Indianapolis, Ind.: The Researchers, 1981. (FHL book 975.6 E5g; computer number 213802.)

See the “Gazetteers” section of this outline and the “Gazetteers” and “Maps” sections of the United States Research Outline (30972) for more resources regarding places in North Carolina. Also check the Family History Library Catalog by using a Locality Search under:

NORTH CAROLINA- MAPSNORTH CAROLINA, [COUNTY]- MAPSNORTH CAROLINA, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- MAPS

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