Crowds line Main Street in Shallotte for the annual Christmas parade on Dec. 1, 2012. StarNews file photo.
Shallotte derived its name from the Shallotte River, initially called the Charlotte River, which flows from the Green Swamp in Brunswick County and empties into the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
Shallotte’s Town Clerk, Sandy Strickland, provided documentation from the Shallotte Centennial Commemorative Book that states, “The earliest known reference to the town was by a horseback traveler of 1734. He crossed [the river] by ferry at what he variously called ‘Charlotte’, ‘little Charlotte’, and ‘little Charlotta.’ As so often happened in those days, spelling conformed to varied pronunciations, and so ‘Charlotte’ eventually became Shallotte. As early as 1801, Bishop Asbury noted that the correct name of the river was ‘Charlotte’, but that it was ‘vulgarly and improperly’ called Shallotte.”
Settlers from New Jersey were the first to inhabit the area now known as the town of Shallotte.
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Date posted: January 17, 2013
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