“Sauxpa” | What’s in a Name?

From “Sauxpa” 1567 to Saxapahaw 2015

In the 1700 and 1800’s Europeans moved into what is now known as Alamance County. They followed well established Indian trading paths, often giving them European names like Piney Ford and Trollinger’s Ford while Native American names were lost. Saxapahaw, by contrast, kept its Native American name, probably because a Spanish traveler, in 1567, spelled out the sound of the river’s name as “Sauxpa”. Although the native peoples in the area were Sissipahaw, the sound of the name survived remarkably well from that day to this.