Ellerbe, NC

Ellerbe is a town in Richmond County, North Carolina, built around an old meeting point for roads, trade, and seasonal gatherings. A route completed in 1781 from the South Carolina backcountry toward Guilford Courthouse crossed an earlier road near the present town. Matthew Dockery opened a store there in 1793, and Scottish settlers held a fair that gave the crossroads the name Fairgrounds after an earlier name, Hurricane. The town later took its name from Colonel William Thomas Ellerbe, who acquired the nearby mineral springs property in 1850.

Ellerbe Springs remains the place's strongest historical landmark. The springs drew visitors in the nineteenth century, and the Ellerbe Springs Hotel opened in 1906 with rooms, a pond, and grounds for gatherings. The railroad reached Ellerbe in 1910, and the town incorporated in 1911. Nearby buildings and properties, including the Bostick School, Ellerbe Springs Hotel, Liberty Hill School, and Powell-Brookshire-Parker Farm, connect the present town with earlier eras of education, farming, travel, and recreation. Ellerbe still feels like a crossroads community, with old routes and the springs giving the town its shape.