"The Loss of a Town" by Dennis F. Daniels Reprinted with
permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian. Spring 2005. Tar
Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History The area
where the Deep and Haw rivers join to form the Cape Fear River
was once the site of the town of Haywood. The town, established
in 1796, was named for state treasurer John Haywood (1755–1827).
An Edgecombe County native, Haywood served as state treasurer
for forty years, from 1787 until 1827. It was hoped that the
town would become a major inland port. Although that never
happened, and the town eventually disappeared, people still
remained to call Haywood home. The area was proposed as the
location for the permanent state capital and the home to the
University of North Carolina. Thomas Person, a delegate from
Granville County, nominated the “fork of the Haw and Deep
Rivers” at the 1788 constitutional convention meeting in
Hillsborough. However, the convention chose a site in Wake
County that would become the city of Raleigh. In