The Many Names of Maxton Traditional Cache
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You are looking for a small tin, magnetized and painted to blend in, hidden in a delightful little park near the heart of the town of Maxton. However, this little town was not always named Maxton, and in fact it went through a number of names before settling on it's present one......
According to an article in The State Magazine (The Name Changing Saga of Maxton, Vol. 52, No. 6, November 1984) "In the brief period of twenty-five years from its coming into existence as Shoe Heel Depot in 1862, it was incorperated as Shoe Heel, changed to Tilden, then to Quhele, back to Shoe Heel, and finally to Maxton in 1887." Each change was by an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina.
The orginal and recurring name of "Shoe Heel" most likely comes from Shoe Heel Creek, that passed just west of the depot built there in 1862.
In 1877, Robeson County's Legislator introduced a bill to change the name to "Tilden". This was clearly a nod to Samuel J. Tilden, a former Governor of New York, who was the Democratic Nominee for president in 1876. Although he had won the popular vote that year, the electoral college was handed to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes after a long contested election.
Not wanting to bear te name of a loser for long, at the next session of the general assembly in 1879, a bill was introduced to change the name to "Quhele", Strangely, the bill was introduced by Pender County, far removed from Robeson, and adopted by unanimous vote! Although to this day, local historians are not sure of the origin of this strange name. There was a popular novel of the time, describing an infamous Scotttish 'Battle of the Clans' in which a Clan Quhele was described.
The name Quhele was no more lasting than Tilden, because in 1881, the legislature was asked to change the name back to Shoe Heel. This name stuck for another six years, until 1887. After an influx of new residents, a mass meeting of the citizenry was held to decide the question of a name once and for all. A suggestion was made for "Mack's Town", since almost every family had in its name or ancestry the Scottish prefix "Mac". "Maxton" was offered as a more convenient spelling, and the new name was submitted to the legislature where it was approved on February 14, 1887.
Additional Hints
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