North Carolina City Directories

The  North Carolina Digital Heritage Center has put online a massive collection for the state of North Carolina of city directories. Use of such directories is very important in doing family history. It is a time capsule with businesses, names, home addresses and years when the people worked and lived in a certain location. Every county in North Carolina is listed.

You can search by city names, by county names or by a date. The earliest date is 1860, but not for every town or county. There are a few missing years such as 1882. After 1899 there is a directory for every year up to 1963. Select which of those three from the top tabs. You can also do a general keyword search using the top box.

Using a keyword, you will then have a list of places and dates from which to select. Click on a selection and the number of times that key word appears will be listed along with each page with the word highlighted. Any page can be viewed as PDF, can be saved to your computer or a hard copy print made.

There are also the Branson’s North Carolina Business Directories which cover many towns and counties.

Any relatives from North Carolina, you do need to explore this online site.

Photo: Page from the Raleigh, NC directory for 1905-1906.

< Return To Blog