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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Avalon Bench (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Avalon Bench. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Avalon Bench is located in Dare County.

To see how the shape of North Carolina's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Dare County: Hyde & Tyrrell.

Below are the counties that are near Avalon Bench. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Avalon Bench:

  • Dare County     (The home county of Avalon Bench)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon Bench, with the one closest to Avalon Bench listed first.
    • Kill Devil Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Kitty Hawk
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Southern Shores
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Fort Raleigh City
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Fort Raleigh City is located in Dare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Raleigh City
    • Nags Head
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • George Town Sands
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • George Town Sands is located in Dare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for George Town Sands
    • Poteskeet Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Poteskeet Village is located in Dare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poteskeet Village
    • Manteo
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Duck
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Sandy Ridge
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Sandy Ridge is located in Dare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Ridge
    • Whalebone
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Whalebone is located in Dare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whalebone
    • Manns Harbor
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Wanchese
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Camden County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon Bench, with the one closest to Avalon Bench listed first.
    • Alder Branch
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Alder Branch is located in Camden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alder Branch
    • Riddle
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Riddle is located in Camden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riddle
    • Elizabeth City Beach
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Elizabeth City Beach is located in Camden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeth City Beach
    • Shiloh
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Shiloh is located in Camden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shiloh
  • Currituck County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon Bench, with the one closest to Avalon Bench listed first.
    • Point Harbor
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Harbinger
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Powells Point
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jarvisburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Grandy
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bertha
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Bertha is located in Currituck County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bertha
    • Poplar Branch
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Aydlett
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Aydlett is located in Currituck County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aydlett
    • Corolla
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Coinjock
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Waterlily
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Waterlily is located in Currituck County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterlily
    • Barco
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Pasquotank County
    • Weeksville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Weeksville is located in Pasquotank County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weeksville
  • Tyrrell County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Avalon Bench, with the one closest to Avalon Bench listed first.
    • Fort Landing
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Fort Landing is located in Tyrrell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Landing
    • Alligator
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Alligator is located in Tyrrell County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alligator

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Avalon Bench, see our County-by-County Page for Avalon Bench.

Cemeteries Near Avalon Bench ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Avalon Bench.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Avalon Bench - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Avalon Bench covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Avalon Bench, with the one closest to Avalon Bench listed first.

  • Baum Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Hilltop Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Austin Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Austin Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the west of Kitty Hawk.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #46759 <2>
  • Willis Tillett Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Aydlett, Sawyer & Guard Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Shiloh Church Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
  • Walker Family Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

While we didn't find Avalon Bench in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Avalon Bench.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Avalon Bench, with the one closest to Avalon Bench listed first.

  • Colington
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Colington is located in Dare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colington
  • Nags Head
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Harbinger
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Mashoes
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Mashoes is located in Dare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mashoes
  • Manteo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Manns Harbor
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Wanchese
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Jarvisburg
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • East Lake
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • East Lake is located in Dare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lake
  • Buffalo City
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Buffalo City is located in Dare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo City
  • Poplar Branch
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Fort Landing
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Fort Landing is located in Tyrrell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Landing
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Old Trap
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Old Trap is located in Camden County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Trap
    • Stumpy Point
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Stumpy Point is located in Dare County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stumpy Point
    • Coinjock
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Avalon Bench. See our List of 1890's Communities around Avalon Bench.

Newspapers Published in Avalon Bench ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 4 newspapers that have been published in the area around Avalon Bench.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Avalon Bench, there are papers which were published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Avalon Bench.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Avalon Bench:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Avalon Bench) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Avalon Bench, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.