Hillsboro, North Carolina, June 7, 1861. This Postmaster Provisional Scott #39X1 is the result of the postmaster not having Confederate stamps to sell and needed to provide postage. He struck a PAID handstamp on small slips of paper and sold them as stamps. Only one Confederate 5 -cent rate cover is recorded. The postmark is a Type 4, double circle datestamp with a Type 2, 5 rate marking use as a killer. One pre-war 3-cent example of this adhesive is known as well.

Asheville, North Carolina, August 26, 1867. This fancy killer of a shovel and pick ax was used to cancel and tie a 3 cent 1869 issue stamp to a United States Internal Revenue Official Cover. The Type 4 postmark was used from April,1869 until April 1877. This is the only recorded use of this Fancy Cancel.

First mailed from Connelly Springs, Burke County, North Carolina, July 27, 1912 posted with a Type 7, 4-Bar handstamp to Newton, NC. This pig farm advertising cover was unclaimed and returned from Newton where a Type E-121 Time-Cummins Machine cancel was applied. The Type 2 cancel was used from November1909 to Jun 1914.

Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, December 9, 1898. The industrial Age brought about change in the postal system in North Carolina. Machine Cancels were introduced in the early 1890s in the United States. This Barry Machine Cancel is the earliest recorded in North Carolina. The cancel was used until November 1899. The machine received its patent in June 1897. In the Pioneer Era 1898-1925, a total of 221 different machine cancels are recorded for North Carolina.

Wilmington & Raleigh Railroad, August 9, 1851. The railroad was first proposed in 1833 but was not supported by the state legislature. In 1840, the line was completed from Wilmington to Weldon, NC. This cover has an 1851 issue Scott #10 tied by a six-bar grid cancel. The postmark is a Towle 305-I-1. The cover originated in Charleston, SC where it was carried by steamship to Wilmington, NC and placed on the RR to New York.