History of Na Wong
The name "Na Wong" comes from a monastery built on an island of trees, about 30 rai in size, in the middle of the rice fields. Before the monastery was built, local people used the island as a cremation ground called "Prew Khok Sae".
In 1919 (B.E. 2462) lay supporters of the temple, Mr. Kling Sanitpu, Mr. Khai Kittikhun, Mr. Kluean Phondet and Mr. Nu Khettakhian, invited Phra Rot Watthanaphon, a forest monk then living at Wat Khao Pina, to perform rites at the cremation ground. While Phra Rot (later Phra Khru Atthasan Sunthon) stayed there, villagers developed the site into a monastery. They called it "Wat Na Wong" because it was surrounded (wong) by rice fields (na). The name was later used for the village and finally for the subdistrict.
From about 1827 to 1880 the area was administered by Nakhon Si Thammarat. After 1880 it came under the town of Trang at Khuan Thani. When subdistricts were set up during the administrative reform of King Rama V, the area became Tambon Na Paya, with Muen At Khongrit as its first kamnan. In 1943 the government merged it with Tambon Bang Kung into a new subdistrict named Tambon Na Wong, with Mr. Ruen Duangphet as the first kamnan. As the population grew, Tambon Bang Kung was separated from Na Wong again in 1947. Archaeological finds such as a prehistoric tripod pot at Wat Khao Pina, several thousand years old, show that the area has been settled continuously for a very long time and is one of the oldest communities in Trang province.
