By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

Chadbourn is no Brigadoon, although a map recently published by Universal Map Company might cause comparisons between the real Columbus County town and the fictional Scottish village.

At a recent town council meeting, Mayor Kenneth Waddell presented the map to the board and pointed out that Chadbourn is missing.

“We’re supposed to be right there,” he said, pointing at a spot.

Waddell said the deletion was first noticed by a wholesale distributor making a delivery to a Chadbourn business.

“He wanted to know where Chadbourn was,” Waddell said. “I told him we were on the map, but he showed me we weren’t.”

The delivery was still made on time, Waddell said. Most folks have found the incident amusing.

“We must still be here, since so many people found the Strawberry Festival,” he said.
Messages to Universal Map were not immediately returned, but a representative for another map company said sometimes towns are left off due to population sizes, specific map orders, or just simple mistakes. Towns are also sometimes left off if they are off major thoroughfares and printing the names would conflict with other place names.

The map, a kind commonly sold at convenience stores, lists Whiteville, Fair Bluff, Cherry Grove, Hallsboro, and Bug Hill. It also has separate entries for Acme, Delco and Riegelwood, which are lumped together on some maps.

Bolton and Freeman are included, as are Old Dock, Iron Hill and Evergreen. The unincorporated communities of Nakina, Pireway and Clarendon made the map alongside Tabor City and Brunswick. The traveler can find directions to Lake Waccamaw and Dulah.
But no Chadbourn.

“I don’t think we did anything to hurt anybody’s feelings,” Waddell told the council. “I promise you, Chadbourn’s still here and doing well.”