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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 Riegelwood (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 Riegelwood. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

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 north 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.

Riegelwood is located in Columbus 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 Columbus County: Bladen, Brunswick, Pender, Robeson & Horry (SC).

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

  • Columbus County     (The home county of Riegelwood)
  • Bladen County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riegelwood, with the one closest to Riegelwood listed first.
    • East Arcadia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Long View
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Long View is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long View
    • Kelly
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Council
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Council is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council
    • Rosindale
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • White Lake
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Olive
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Mount Olive is located in Bladen County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Olive
    • Clarkton
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Elizabethtown
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Abbottsburg
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Brunswick County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riegelwood, with the one closest to Riegelwood listed first.
    • Northwest
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Sandy Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandy Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Creek
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 319 people
    • Malmo
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Phoenix
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Navassa
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Navassa is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navassa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,534 people
    • Town Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Town Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Creek
    • Belville
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Belville is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,135 people
    • Winnabow
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Leland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Leland is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leland
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 25,647 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leland <1>
    • Makatoka
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Bolivia
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Exum
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Duplin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riegelwood, with the one closest to Riegelwood listed first.
    • Harrells
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Harrells is located in Duplin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrells
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 191 people
    • Safe
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Wallace
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • New Hanover County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riegelwood, with the one closest to Riegelwood listed first.
    • Hightsville
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Hightsville is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hightsville
    • Wrightsboro
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
      • Wrightsboro is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wrightsboro
    • Castle Hayne
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
    • Skippers Corner
      (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
      • Skippers Corner is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skippers Corner
    • Kings Grant
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Kings Grant is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grant
    • Murraysville
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Murraysville is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murraysville
    • Smith Creek
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Smith Creek is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smith Creek
    • Wilmington
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Windemere
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Windemere is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windemere
    • Silver Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Silver Lake is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
    • Ogden
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Seagate
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
      • Seagate is located in New Hanover County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seagate
  • Pender County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Riegelwood, with the one closest to Riegelwood listed first.
    • Currie
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Atkinson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Rocky Point
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Ashton
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Saint Helena
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Saint Helena is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Helena
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 428 people
    • Burgaw
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Watha
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Watha is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Watha
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 247 people
    • Murray Town
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Murray Town is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murray Town
    • Brown Town
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
      • Brown Town is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown Town
    • Willard
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Willard is located in Pender County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willard
    • Hampstead
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Topsail
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
  • Sampson County

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

Cemeteries Near Riegelwood ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Riegelwood.

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 Riegelwood - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

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.<3>

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

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

  • Armour
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Freeman
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Freeman is located in Columbus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
  • Northwest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Byrdville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Colly
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Colly is located in Bladen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colly
  • Malmo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Point Caswell
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Point Caswell is located in Pender County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Caswell
  • Phoenix
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Kelly
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Bolton
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Montague
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Montague is located in Pender County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montague
  • Currie
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Navassa
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Navassa is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navassa
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,534 people
    • Atkinson
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Town Creek
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Town Creek is located in Brunswick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Creek

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

Newspapers Published in Riegelwood ...

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 91 newspapers that have been published in the area around Riegelwood.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Riegelwood, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Riegelwood.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful 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 Riegelwood:

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>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 Riegelwood, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Riegelwood) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.