Citizens of the small North Carolina town of Fuquay-Varina have had to pronounce, spell and explain their hometown’s name to newcomers and visitors for many a year.
Some of the really curious want to know, “Where did such a name come from?”
The short answer is: the Fuquay part of the name dates back to French soldiers who came to America with General Lafayette to help the colonies in their fight for independence from Great Britain, then stayed to seek their fortunes; the Varina part involves a love story.
Along the way to its present puzzling Fuquay-Varina name, this southern Wake County community had other names—and other post offices of record to prove it.
In the early days, before North Carolina was fully settled, this area was called Piney Woods. Indians still lived here. Their exact name or the name of their tribe—maybe Sippihaw, Sippahaw, Saxapahaw or Sissipahaw—has long been a part of local lore, but even those professionals who study Native American history can offer no written or archeological proof of just who they were or how to spell that mysterious Sippihaw name.
Still, locals have loved the name. It supposedly means “good will.” At one time the local post office was named Sippihaw. (1900—to 1902). Sippihaw wasn’t the first post office, however. The first was named Varina, a bit confusing as the community that eventually called itself Varina was one that grew up around a depot about three miles to the north.
Since the passing of the Sippihaw post office name, residents have named businesses, subdivisions, even a golf course Sippihaw. Meanwhile, the post office name changed to Fuquay Springs in 1902 and finally to Fuquay-Varina in 1964.
As for the origin of the Fuquay part of the town’s name, the French soldiers who came with Lafayette to America spelled their last name Fouquet. It was gradually anglicized to become Fuquay. One brother decided to drop the “y” and spell his name Fuqua to distinguish his descendants from his brother’s. Now about the Varina name.
During the Civil War, it was common for young girls to write to Confederate soldiers — even ones they didn’t know — to boost their morale. One young lady who lived in Fayetteville chose to write to J.D. “Squire” Ballentine (squire because he was a Justice of the Peace) of the Fuquay Springs community. She didn’t sign her real name, Virginia Arey, but chose the pseudonym Varina, perhaps because that was the name of the wife of Confederacy President Jefferson Davis.
Once the war was over, Ballentine sought out Virginia Arey, fell in love and married her. He always called her Varina. So when he sought a post office for the community that was growing up around the mineral spring, he named it Varina. The first Varina post office was located in the couple’s home about a mile south of the spring. A horseback rider delivered the mail from Raleigh to Varina, to Fayetteville and back.
By 1900 the postmaster had changed and the new one re-named the station Sippihaw. In 1902 Mrs. Hattie Jones became postmaster. She applied for and was granted permission to change the post office name again, this time to Fuquay Springs.
As for the Fuquay part of the name, the two French brothers who came to the New World to fight in the Revolution, settled first in Virginia, then split up, Louis heading west while William bought land in North Carolina. Sometime about 1845 Stephen Fuquay, a descendant of William, or possibly David Crockett Fuquay, son of Stephen, was plowing when he ran upon a natural spring.
The Fuquays shared the water with friends and neighbors. Eventually, those who drank from the spring came to believe it had curative powers. More and more people began to visit the spring to take the waters. Hotels and boarding houses sprang up. Entertainments were held at the spring. Particularly large crowds gathered on Easter Mondays and each Fourth of July. The community prospered. In 1909 Fuquay Springs was incorporated. The town’s limits made up one perfect half-mile square bordering on the spring. The census of 1910 listed 127 residents.
By the 1960s Fuquay Springs had expanded its borders to include its neighbor Varina, the community that had grown up to the north, around the Varina Depot. That community had, by that time, won a post office of its own, and it chose the Varina name that Fuquay Springs had earlier abandoned. In 1964 the Varina community, never incorporated, and Fuquay-Springs, an incorporated town since 1909, joined together—not without some protest— to become the Town of Fuquay-Varina. A little bit of rivalry between the two, most of it lighthearted, has persisted over the years.
Many times the hyphenated name has caused confusion, misspellings, and mispronunciations and—most of all—teasing, laughter, even ridicule. Raleigh radio announcer Pat Patterson labeled it Two Flags over Fuquay, a play on the Six Flags over Georgia entertainment theme park, and made fun of it for weeks.
Once back in the 1960’s an enterprising young student from the UNC Journalism School, decided one Saturday afternoon to visit this little country town he’d been hearing about. He wrote a column for the Daily Tarheel about the experience, remarking on the girls with hair up in pink plastic rollers, readying themselves for Saturday night dates, the pick-up truck driver who nodded as he rounded the corner in his big Ford pickup truck with a front license plate that read Chevy Eater, the upcoming mule race . . . In conclusion he described Fuquay-Varina as “crabgrass in the lawn of life.” The column was reprinted in the local newspaper. Some townspeople were not amused.
One feisty 77-year-old lady wrote the young man, invited him over for a visit and gave him her loving view of Fuquay-Varina. She, after all, was a Fuquay, Lula Fuquay Sessoms. They parted friends. Proper pronunciation of the town’s name got cleared up finally when the Art House produced T-shirts that read: “Can you pronounce FEWquay-VarEEna.”
Regards,
Gold