NC 701: Appeared as new primary routing by 1930, running from NC 70 (NC 211 precursor) Aberdeen east to Walter Hines Page Tomb. It probably began at Blue at Main or Blue at South and followed Bethesda eastward. It is shown but not labeled on 1930 and later officials.
NC 701 could not have lasted past 1934, when it would've been in conflict with US 701. The 1936 Official Map shows this stub as still a state highway, but without a number shown; the 1938 Official shows it as secondary. Much later (1980's) this became part of NC 5.

Who was Walter Hines Page? Page was a Cary native journalist who among other things championed education for all races and improved roads in the latter part of the 19th Century. He was the US Ambassador to Great Britain under President Wilson and died in Pinehurst in 1918. Why he rated a state highway to his grave is a mystery.

NC 701 shown but not labeled, 1933

NC 701 on the '30 Moore County map

Still a state route in 1936, but what is its number?