An unincorporated community in east-central Brunswick County, near the intersection of U.S. 17 and N.C. 87, Winnabow [Map this] is named for the antebellum plantation of the Russell family, which was located nearby.
Daniel L. Russell (1845-1908), a congressman and later governor of North Carolina from 1897 to 1901, was born at Winnabow plantation. Russell was the state’s last Republican governor until the election of James Holshouser in 1972. A “Governor’s Road” still runs through Winnabow.
The Russells, in turn, seem to have taken the name “Winnabow” from an Indian word whose meaning has been lost.
According to the North Carolina Gazetteer, Winnabow was known as Evans Store Crossroads during the Civil War. The present name was adopted in 1882 when the Winnabow post office opened.
Date posted: November 21, 2013
User-contributed question by: