End of US highway 158

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info on this page is based on the research of Robert Droz and Matt Stefora. Photo credits: Brian LeBlanc; Alex Nitzman

The west end of US 158 has always been in Mocksville NC. US 158 comes in from the north, and is routed down Main Street. Though there was no "End" sign, the designation ends at the intersection shown below:

LeBlanc, 2000

From this point, US 601 south continues straight ahead on Main. US 601 north and US 64 west are directed right on Wilkesboro Street. Eastbound US 64 traffic goes left on Lexington Road.

Sources conflict as to the historic east endpoints of US 158, and as to the exact dates when changes occurred (the chart at the top is my interpretation of the info I've found). The original east end of US 158 was in Franklin VA. The photo below is looking north on High Street:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

The crossroad is 4th Avenue, which was once mainline US 58 (today it's Business 58). US 158 ended at this intersection until about 1940. At that point, the US 258 designation replaced US 158 between here and Murfreesboro NC, so then it was US 258 that ended here for a few years. Below we're looking west on 4th:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

To the left on High was the original beginning of US 158, and then during the early 1940s that was the beginning of US 258. At that time, the east end of US 158 was truncated to its junction with US 258 in Murfreesboro for a couple years (you can view photos from there on my US 258 page). In 1942, US 158 was extended east through Elizabeth City to Barco; then south through Kitty Hawk to Nags Head; then back west to Manteo. From the historic maps I've seen, the junction shown below appears to be where US 158 ended:

Nitzman, 2000

That was looking west on US 64/264. US 158 may have ended here at its junction with NC 345, which at the time went both left (to Wanchese) and right (to Manteo).

(Long before the photo above was taken, US 158 had been truncated to its current terminus [see below], and it was US 64/264 that continued northward to serve Manteo. Now things have changed again: US 264 no longer makes it this far east; US 64 continues straight ahead to a new bridge over Croatan Sound; and it's Business 64 that goes north to Manteo.)

In 1951 the US 158 designation was truncated to its current terminus: a place known as Whalebone Junction - on the Outer Banks of NC, a little south of Nags Head. You can view photos from there on this page.