Maxton, NC

Maxton is a Robeson–Scotland county town whose downtown keeps several eras in one compact grid. The place was settled before the Civil War and incorporated in 1874 as Shoe Heel; it cycled through Quehele and Shoe Heel before becoming Maxton in 1887. The town’s old educational role is part of the story too: Carolina College, a Methodist school for women, was followed by Presbyterian Junior College and Carolina Military Academy.

Today, Maxton’s work is partly preservation. The entire downtown is on the National Register, the restored Patterson Building holds town offices, and the Freight Building has been brought back as a restaurant and rental space. Patterson Street’s Avenue of Mayors puts buried utility lines and memorial trees into the center of the town. The Maxton Museum, in an 1880s frame building that once held a smithy, library, and law office, carries local collections on education, industry, family history, and the nearby Laurinburg–Maxton Air Force Base. Maxton feels like a place rebuilding its main street by using its own past.