Bonlee was established in 1894 as Dunlap Mills. Four years later it was renamed Causey, after local resident Joshua Causey. It took the name Bonlee in 1913. The town was incorporated in 1913, but had its incorporation revoked in 1936.[3] The Mount Vernon Springs Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.[4]
^Powell, William S. (1976). The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 58. ISBN9780807812471.