Fairmont, NC

Fairmont has changed names a few times. The place began around Ashpole Institute and nearby Ashpole Swamp, was chartered as Union City in 1899, called Ashpole in 1901, and became Fairmont in 1907. Its early economy followed the Border Belt: timber, naval stores, and later tobacco, with the railroad helping move the crop. The old depot now houses the Border Belt Farmers Museum, with displays on farming, tobacco, cotton, and the railroad. Fairmont sits in Robeson County near the North Carolina-South Carolina line, so the local shorthand is border country, old rail, and a town whose name settled after several tries.