This 1983 Report Was Revised Into an Article in June 1993 by Wilson Angley for the North Carolina Maritime History Council Journal Tributaries

AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

OF THE EXETER SITE IN PENDER COUNTY

This 1983 report was revised into an article in June 1993 by Wilson Angley for the North Carolina Maritime History Council Journal Tributaries. It was published in the October 199~ issue of that journal . A copy of the June 1993 article submitted has been inserted at the back of the 1983 herein report, as well ~s a copy of the letter about the submission from Angley to Tributaries' editor Mr . Mike Alford.

• • •

AN HIS'IORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE EXETER SITE IN PENDER CCAJNI'Y

• by Wilson Angley September 8, 1982

• From the early stages of European exploration and settlement of North • Caroli na, the lands along the Northeast Cape Fear River and its t ributaries were recognized as a prime area for agricultural development and the production of lLUnber and naval stores. In August of 1662 the New Englander, William Hilton, set sail from Massachusetts Bay aboard the ship Adventure, bound for the Cape Fear region. After several failures to reach his appointed destination, he entered the mouth of the Cape Fear on the morning of CCtober 4, 1662 . For more than three weeks Hilton and his associates explored the stream. Taking the Adventure as far as present-day Wilmington, he then proceeded by small boat up the Northeast branch, which he took to be a continuation of the main river. Hilton is thought to have reached a point approximately sixty miles upstream from the ocean bar.1 According

to historian E. Lawrence Lee ' s reading of Hilton' s own account: He and his associates were pleased with the fertile and • abundant land, with the flourishing vegetation and plentiful game , and with the climate that was ' ye most temperate of ye temperate zone.' They were also impressed by the meadows and upland fields along the river. 2

During this initial voyage, Hilton and his men encountered only about 100 Indians along the Northeast Cape Fear.3

In October of 1663 Hilton returned aboard the Adventure to conduct a more extensive exploration of the Cape Fear region. Again he and his men ascended the Northeast Cape Fear in a small boat; and on this second expedi tion names were given to landmarks and areas far upstream, including "Turkie-Quarters," "Rocky-Point," and "Stag Park"--the vast area later claimed by Governor George Burrington only a short distance upriver from

the future site of Exeter. Once more the expeditionary party was favorably impressed by the region: "As good tracts of land, dry, well wooded, • pleasant and delightful as we have seen any where in the world."4 2

Although therewere several abortive attempts to establish settlements • along the looe.r Cape Fear during the years just follooing the Hilton expedi tions, permanent settlement did not finally begin until the mid- 1720s with

the coming of Maurice Moore and the laying out of Brunswick 'I'<::Mn . Between 1726 and 1731 same 115,000 acres of Cape Fear land were acquired by a closely

associated group of about three dozen men. Lands were taken up not only along

the lower reaches of the stream but also along both the Northwest and North east branches. The resulting concentration of large landholdings among a relatively few wealthy and influential men went far toward establishing the plantation pattern which remained dominant in the area until the Civil War. 5 During the half century preceding the American Revolution, vast planta tions were laid off on the Northeast Cape Fear, extending far upstream from

the fledgling settlement of Wilmington {formerly New Town or Newton) . More over, t:.he"early landowners on the Northeast Cape Fear included some of the • most prominent and influential men in colonial North Carolina. Landowners in the irranediate vicinity of Exeter included Samuel Swann, John and Alexander

Lillington, John Ashe, Thomas Merrick, John Porter, Edward Moseley, and John Rutherfurd. 6

The land which would soon become the site of Exeter {originally New Exeter) was acquired in September of 1750 by David Williams and Henry Skibbow

{or Sc iboe) , the latter being an obscure planter and surveyor who had been

a resident of New Hanover County since at least as early as 1738, at which 7 time he purchased property on Tbpsail Sound. Prior to his purchase of the Exeter tract, Skibbow's principal place of residence was situated in the forks of Holly Shelter Creek , on a plantation formally acquired from David

Williams in November of 1750, but which was occupied by Skibbow prior to • his actual purchase.8 3

The 100 acre Exeter tract was situated on the east side of the North- • east Cape Fear River a short distance below Sand Hill Cove and on both sides of Jumping Run Branch. Skibbow and Williams received the grant with a standard provision that they clear and cultivate at least three acres of land within three years. 9 Less than three years later, in April of 1753 , a grant for 100 acres of land, adjoining and just above the Exeter tract, was issued to Lewis Skibbow, presl.Bllably the son or brother of Henry •10 Lewis Skibbow' s grant

also contained considerable frontage along the east bank of the Northeast

Cape Fear. Its upper boundary extended fran the river bank northeastward beyond the present Holly Shelter Road , and lay along part of the line which

marked the lcmer boundary of a grant originally issued to Edward Moseley in June of 1740 . This t-t:>seley land had passed to Sampson Moseley at the death of hi s father in 1749, and would, in 1772, be purchased by the transplanted 11 • Scotsman, John Rutherfarct.

It was on the 1750 grant to David Williams and Henry Skibbow that the tcmn of Exeter (or New Exeter) was formally incorporated by the colonial assembly in 1754, apparently with the support of certain residents of New Hanover , Onslcm, and Duplin counties, who conceived an expectation that the

settlement would achieve a measure of success as a riverport and center of local trade. The assembly stipulated that forty acres should be set aside for the town "on the plantation of Henry Skibbow on the east side of the north east branch of Cape Fear river, in New Hanover county, at a place called the 12 Sand Hill. " The act of incorporation named as town comnissioners Alexander

Lillington, Samuel Ashe, Thanas Merrick, John Gardner, and Henry Skibbow him self. It further authorized these commissioners to lay off the tcmn tract • into one-half acre lots, "with convenient streets and squares, for a church, 4

13 church yard, and market place. " The lots were to be sold for 40 s procla- • mation nnney with the proceeds to go to Skibl::x:M. John Gardner was designated to act as treasurer. Each purchaser of a lot was required, within two years, to build a good substantial habitable framed or brick house, of not less dimensions than twenty feet in length, and six teen feet wide, besides sheds and leantoes, or make preparation for so doing, as the commissioners, or a majority of them , shall think reasonable.l4 The incorporating legislation further provided, that no person inhabitant of the said tam, or holding a lot or lots therein, shall inclose the same, or keep the same inclosed, under a common stake fence, but every lot therein shall be paled, or inclosed with posts and rails set up.l5 I.Dt CMners were also directed, within two years, to clear their lots of 16 "all manner of wood , underwood, brush, and grubs. " No mention was made , in the act of incorporation, of waterfront property, a warehouse, or docking facilities.17 • Despite the sanguine hopes of its pranoters, Exeter seems to have stumbled in the very threshold of development. An examination of the New Hanover County deeds of this period (though they are sometimes illegible because of faint microfilm copy) fails to reveal a single transaction from any of the town camdssioners which can be identified as conveying a tCMn lot. Unfortunately,

too, the court minutes for New Han011er County do not survive fran the period 1742- 1758, so that this potentially valuable source of information sheds no light on the years during whi ch development activities at Exeter might have been at their height.

Despite the lack of documentary evidence for the sale of town lots, Exeter was, nevertheless, designated as an official customs inspection point

in 1755, only one year after its incorporation. The "Act for the Inspection • of Pork , Beef, Rice, Indigo, Tar , Pitch, Turpentine, Staves, Headings, 5

Shingles, and Lumber" named the new tCMn along with Brunswick, Wilmington, • and New TOpsail Sound as the places of inspection in New Hanover County.18 Henry Skibbow himself appears to have moved away from the Exeter area withi n a few years of the town' s incorporation. In 1759 he sold his plantation in the forks of Holly Shelter Creek to Joshua James for a recited consideration of LBO proclamation money; and, at the time of this sale, Skibbaw was already residing in OnslCM County •19 He later died intestate in OnslCM County, at which time Lewis Skibbaw acted as administrator of his modest 20 estate. Despite its apparent lack of development, Exeter was again designated in 1758 as an inspection point for customs in New Hanover County, along with 21 Brunswick , Wilmington, and New 'Ibpsail Sound. In 1761 the county court appointed John Gardner, original treasurer of the town commissioners, to act as customs 1nspector. there. 22 • In 1764, however , certain members of the upper house of the colonial assembly raised objections to Exeter's continuing designation as a place of inspection, on the basis of its carnnercial insignificance: We are of Opinion, that New Exeter being a place of no Note or Business, is improper for a place of Inspection that the insertion of it /by the lower house/, cannot answer, any publick Good , though it may the Opposite interests of Individuals and that therefore it should be dele/te/ d. 23 It was only at the insistence of members of the lCMer house that Exeter retained its apparently dubious status as an inspection point for a few more 24 yea.rs. In 1764, 1765, and 1766, the county court named Sampson MJseley as . 25 mspector.

The act of 1764 was to be the last in which Exeter was named as a customs inspection point. In similar legislation of 1770 Exeter was deleted from the • list of such places; and in 1784 the tCMn of South Washington, further upriver, 6

26 was included for the first time. The exclusion of Exeter from the customs • legislation of 1770 and 1784 would seem to indicate that the town was never a port of major consequence. It may have been a river landing of same local significance, however, at least until the rise of South Washington. 27 Despite the paucity of documentary evidence concerning the development of Exeter, the town had apparently been laid off by 1760. In October of that year John Ashe , planter, sold to John Gardner, merchant,and original treasurer of the town commissioners, a 290 acre tract of apparently unimproved land just south of the 1750 grant to Henry Skibl:x:M and David Williams. Ashe himself had acquired this tract in 1754 . The property description in the 1760 conveyance referred to: • all that Plantation tract or parcel of land • • • on the North East pranch of Cape Fear River on the lower side of the tract where New Exeter is laid out. 28 Although this deed reveals that Exeter had at least been ''laid out" by 1760, • it is perhaps significant that no indication is given of an actual settlement. Another documentary reference to Exeter was recorded in 1772. When Sampson Moseley sold seven tracts of land to John Rutherfurd during that year, one of them, the southernmost, was described as "Beginning at a pine on the river 29 s1"d e near Ex e t er •••• " The evidence provided by eighteenth century maps is samewhat more revealing with regard to the rather brief existence of Exeter as a settlement and local trade center. The Moseley Map of 1733 , drawn by local resident Edward Moseley, was produced two decades prior to the incorporation of Exeter and gives no indication of settlement at the site. At this time water apparently furnished the sole means of transportation for settlers as far upriver as the future location of Exeter. The town first app:ars on the Collet Map of 1770 • • By this time a road extended all along the western side of the Northeast Cape 7

Fear. Another road, on the east side of the river, extended northward fran • Harrison' s ferry to Exeter, thence northeastward across Holly Shelter Creek to join the road leading from Wilmington to New Bern. The Collet Map not

only documents the location and existence of Exeter, but also indicates the

presence of seven structures there. The Mouzon Map of 1775 indicates the

presence of eleven structures at Exeter. The roads in the area had not

changed appreciably during the previous five years, except that a road was

now shown connecting the north-south road to the west of the river with the

river bank directly opp:>site Exeter. It is, therefore, very likely that a

ferry was in operation at Exeter prior to the American Revolution. By 1808

and the making of the Price-Strother Map , Exeter had apparently ceased to

exist, though South Washington (or Old Washington) , some fourteen miles up-

stream by water, was clearly indicated, situated on the north- south highway which ran along the western side of the river. • Colonial planters and settlers' use of the Northeast Cape Fear and its tributaries for travel, caranunication, and corrmerce was given added impetus

by the growth of Wilmington from the 1730s onward-a growth which soon caused

the eclipse of the older settlement and port of Brunswick, much nearer the

mouth of the Cape Fear. Harry Roy Merrens has briefly described sane of the

reasons for Wilmington' s rise as a maritime center at Brunswick's expense:

Wilmington flourished as a port from its earliest days .••• The basis of its ccmmerciai prosperity during the eighteenth century was the export trade of the Cape Fear Valley, the early growth of the seaport being a reflection of the settle ment aro developnent of this area. Large amounts of bulky naval stores and lumber produced in the area were sent down both branches of the Cape Fear River, as well as smaller quanti ties of farm products. Ocean-going vessels could not sail more than a few miles farther upstream than Wilmington, on either the Northeast or Northwest branch, but it was relatively easy and inexpensive for producers to float down the exports on rafts or piraqua, for loading into vessels • downstream.30 8

Writing in 1775, on the eve of the Revolution, Janet Schaw provided a • rather detailed account of one large lumber and naval stores operation-- that of John Rutherfurd, on his vast Hunthill estate. This lumber and naval stores facility was , in fact, s i tuated on Ashe's Creek, only a short distance up the Northeast Cape Fear from Exeter and just bela.v the mouth of the larger Holly Shelter Creek:

On this /plantation/ he has a vast number of Negroes employed in various works. He makes a great deal of tar and turpentine, but his grand work is a saw-mill, the finest I ever met with. It cuts three thousand lumbers a day, and can double the number , when necessity demands it. The woods round him are immense, and he has a vast piece of water, which by a creek oammunicates with the river, by which he sends da.vn all the lumber, tar, and pitch, as it rises every tide sufficiently high to bear any weight. This is done on what is called rafts, built upon a flat with deals/i.e ., sawn boards or planks/, and barrels depending from the sides. In this manner they will float you da.vn fifty thousand deals at once, and 100 or 200 barrels, and they leave room in the center for the people to stay on, who have nothing to do but prevent its running on shore, as it is floated da.vn by the tides, and they must lay to, between tide and tide, it having no power to move but by the force of • the stream. This appears to me the best contrived thing I have seen, nor do I think any better method could be fall en on; and this is adopted by all the people up the country • • • • He is able to load a raft once a fortnight--the plantation not only affording lumber, but staves, hoops and ends for barrels and casks for the West India trade, and he has a great number of his slaves bred coopers and carpenters.31 Not all of the vessels on the Northeast Cape Fear at this time were of a crude and utilitari an design. Rutherfurd, for example, also possessed a rather refined and comfortable ooat for his personal use-- a boat in which Janet Schaw was conveyed da.vnriver to Wilmington: We came to ta.vn yesterday by water, and tho' it was excessively warm had a pleasant sail. Mr . Rutherfurd has a very fine boat with an awning to prevent the heat, and six stout Negroes in neat uniforms to ra.v her da.vn , which with the assistance of the tide was performed with ease in a very short time. 32 Although there is no documentary evidence that John Rutherford' s extensive • lumbering and naval stores operation directly involved the Exeter s i te just 9

downriver, it seems highly probable that this would have been the case. • It also seems highly likel y that Exeter was at least occasionally used as a shipping point by other prominent planters, mill operators, and naval stores producers along this portion of the Northeast Cape Fear. During the final stages of the American Revolution, the port of Wilmington became a place of considerable strategic bnportance to both British and Patriot forces. In late January of 1781 a British fleet sailed up the Cape Fear bringing a force of about 450 British troops under Major James Craig. With little or no opposition, Craig ' s forces seized Wilmington and began a prolonged occupation. From time to time, during the course of this occupation, Craig dispatched expeditionary forces into the surrounding countryside, incl uding the area on the Northeast Cape Fear in the vicinity of Exeter.33 Craig and his forces were engaged in fortifying positions in and around Wilmington when General Charles Cornwallis's troops arrived in ta-m on 7 April

• 1781. Cornwallis remained for only a little ITOre than two weeks, hCJNever , before starting his lang march northward into Virginia. This march led him along the western side ·of the Northeast Cape Fear and brought wi despread dest ruction in its wake: Once again the red-- coated army was on the move . Trudging along the rutted, sandy roads, they marched slCJNly and almost deliberately into Duplin County. The entire countryside was terrorized. Tories and other hangers-on, who follCJNed the British army like a flight of vultures, plundered every farm and plantation along the way . Same houses roared up in a mass of flames and smoke blackened chimneys marked the path of the marching column. Houses and cattle were driven off, and slaves were forced to come al ong with the army. Many Whi gs l oaded their fami lies and m::>st valuable possessions into wagons and hastened to a safer area. 34

Exeter is indicated on the William Faden Map of the Cornwallis march, pub- l i shed in 1785; but it is clear that the main body of British troops passed • northward along the western side of the Northeast Cape Fear. Although 10

plantations were laid waste across the river, Exeter, presumably,was spared.35 • After Cornwallis's departure, Craig continued his activities in Wilmington and the surrounding area. One of his outlying fortifications along the North- east Cape Fea.r was constructed as far away as John Rutherfurd' s mill on Ashe's Creek, only a short distance upriver from Exeter. It is, therefore, almost certain that Exeter was involved in the various movements of Craig's troops. It is also quite possible that Exeter was a river landing of some importance to the Patriot militia forces under the command of General Alexander Lilling- ton, a resident of the area. 36

In July of 1781 ti1e property of John Rutherfurd, including his Bowland

plantation, its 150 slaves, and his Ashe's Creek mill, was seized and confis-

cated by local Patriots because of his notorious and uns~v.ing allegiance to King George III and to the Loyalist cause. Moreover, Rutherfurd was forced

to flee to Charleston and later to the British Isles, where he died in 1782. • His sons, John and William Gordon Rutherfurd, who had served in the British army , were to strive for years to regain their father' s property, including the vast holdings which had been his between Exeter and Holly Shelter Creek. 37 By the end of the eighteenth century, if not well before, the plan to establish a permanent settlement at Exeter had apparently gone aglimmering. This development was probably contributed to by the rise of South Washington a few miles upriver, although South Washington itself was of very limited lll1portance. 1n. 1ts. or1g1na . . 1 1ocat1on. . 38 A 1794 survey o f t h e area be tween Merrick ' s Creek to the south and Ashe ' s Creek to the north records the location of Exeter in a general way, but indicates no structures there. Mills were indicated at this time on both Ashe's Creek ("Ashes Mill") and Lillington Creek ("General Lillington Mill") ; Jumping Run Branch was not sho.·m. 39 • It has already been mentioned that Exeter did not appear on the Price- 11

Strother Map of 1808. Nor was the Exeter site in any way indicated on the • "Plan of Part of Holly Shelter Swamp , " prepared by H. B. Brazier in 1827 40 for the state Board of Internal Improvements.

Documentary references to the Exeter site are vague as to the extent of its developnent; but it is clear that the 100 acre tract originally granted to Henry Skibbaw and David Williams was being divided and sold by the end of the eighteenth century. In a transaction between one James Fentress and the blacksmith John Player, in October of 1798, specific reference was made to the inclusion of a large portion of the Exeter town site. M:>reover, the fact that fifty acres were being conveyed in this transaction for flO is a strong indication that the land contained few or no bnprovements. The property was described as: A certain piece or parcel of land • • • on the East side of the No Et River of Cape Fear containing fifty acres being part of one hundred acres patented by Henry Skibbow 41 • and David Williams part of which was laid off for a Tbwn . During the preceding month, Fentress had also sold to Player the adjoining tract of 100 acres which had been granted to Lewis Skibbow in 1753. A slinilar lack of improvements on this land is indicated by the recited· 42 consideration of f7.10s.

In December of 1798, only a few months after acquiring the lands formerly

belonging to James Fentress, Player was authorized by the county court "to

keep a ferry over the North East River at a place called Exeter with the same fees as at the big Bridge /i.e., Heron' s Bridge, several miles downriver;.43 If Player actually operated this ferry, as authorized, he did not do so for long. By October of 1801 Player was dead, and his modest estate was sold . . 44 at p ubl1c auct1on •

In December of 1822 one Boney Player sold to Staten Meeks 125 acres of • the land formerly owned by John Player. The recited consideration was only 12

$60 o This land included the 100 acres granted to Lewis Skibbow in 1753 and • twenty-five acres of the original Henry Skibbaw and David Williams grant: o o o the 25 acres being contained in the said Williams and Skibbaws patent called the Lc:Mer Lands o o o beginning at a spruce pine below the old field where John Player formerly lived on the North Eto /Cape Fear/ running Et. 59 poles to a stake thence Wt. 50 poles to the river above the old Field and down the River to the beginning containing 25 acres a part of the TOwn lands also all wood waters and appurtenances • • o of the Sd. Land and premises.45 In addition to the 125 acres acquired by Staten Meeks from Boney Player in

1822, the will of Staten Meeks makes reference to approx~tely 200 acres acquired from Elijah Shepperd in transactions which apparently went unrecorded. These purchases of land from Player and Shepperd gave Staten Meeks possession of the Exeter site and a large portion of the surrounding area. 46 Staten Meeks

died in 1848, leaving as heirs his wife and four children. To son W. D. Meeks he bequeathed "the tract of land where I now reside, purchased by me from • Elijah Shepperd and B. /Boney/ Plair /Player/ containing 325 acres • • •• "47 By 1850 W. D. Meeks had removed to the state of Mississippi, leaving John Watkins with power of attorney to sell at least same of his North Carolina property. On l March of that year Watkins conveyed to Jeptha Meeks same 325 acres, including "one hundred acres patented by Lewis Skibbow in the year A.D.

1753," "twenty five acres known as part of the old TOwn lands, " and another 200 acres along both sides of Jumping Run Branch. 48 In December of the following year Jeptha Meeks increased his land holdings in the area with the purchase of

"Ninety five acres • o • on the East side of the Northeast Branch of Cape Fear River adjoining his own land on Exeter Sand Hills."49 In subsequent transactions of 1853, 1863 , and 1873, Jeptha Meeks acquired additional lands surrounding the former site of Exeter, including the John Ramsey mill, dam , and pond situated on Jt.rrnping Run Branch-- apparently the first mill facility to be • constructed on this stream.50 13

When the estate of Jeptha Meeks was divided among his heirs in 1922, • son George W. Meeks carne into p:>ssession of a tract of 372~ acres, including the former site of Exeter. 'Ihe upper boundary of this tract was described

as "Beginning at Extra /i.e. , Exeter/ Sand Hills ... in a small sink in

the river bank"; and its southern boundary was said to cane dCMn to the river

bank "below the old field landing." Brother calvin Meeks received an adjoin

ing tract to the south, including land on both sides of Jumping Run Branch.

A survey taken prior to the division of the Meeks estate reveals that a 5 l/16

acre mill site or prospective mill site (the Union Shingle Mill property) was

situated, in the early 1920s, just above the erstwhile location of Exeter.

The rectangularly shaped mill property fronted along the river bank for 420

feet, with its sides extending back from the river 525 feet. At the time

of this survey, a primitive "cart road" connected the mill property, and

a river landing just dCMnStream, with the Holly Shelter Road a short distance • to the east. Indeed, the cart road seems to have cane dCMn to the river bank at or very near the former site of Exeter, at the place elsewhere referred to

as the "old field landing . ., Sl The George W. Meeks who received the Exeter

site passed away in 1949 and was interred in the Meeks family cemetery. His

brother Calvin, who had received the lands along Jumping Run Branch, pre

deceased him by eighteen years, and was also buried in the family graveyard. 52

By 1946, and p:>ssibly well before , the area along the Northeast cape Fear

fran Sand Hill Cove past the mouth of Jumping Run Branch (1. 8 miles of river

frontage) was errbraced within the 48,000 acres comprising the Holly Shelter

Wildlife Management Area. This area of the river bank, especially the upper

p:>rtion, was described as being an elevated sandy ridge, with its steepest

declivity near the sp:>t where the lodge had been constructed. It was noted • that this short stretch of shoreline was distinctive for its white sand and 14

the prefX)nderance of oak , hickory, and other hardwood trees. It was al so • noted that the sloping banks along this section of the river provided "an 53 ideal feeding ground" for deer. It is not likely that these factors would have been overlooked by those who contemplated a settlement in the area nearly two centuries earlier. In 1946 it was already projected that the area embraced within the Holly Shelter Wildlife Management Area would be increased in the years to come; and this has proven to be the case. The total acreage of the refuge has been vastly expanded and the area along tfreriver has been extended a con siderable distance far:ther dcwnstream. The site of Exeter should be located slightly downriver from the Holly Shelter lodge, approximately 600- 1 , 000 feet above the mouth of Jumping Run Branch. Although Exeter appears to have been of l i ttle consequence and its existence of comparatively short duration, the town site, river bank , and waters just offshore may well yiel d up arti • facts of considerable archaeological significance •

• • ~ . Lawrence Lee, 'Ihe L<:::Mer Cape Fear in Colonial Days (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1965) , 31-32. 2 Lee , The L<:::Mer Cape Fear , 32. 3 Lee , The LcMer Cape Fear, 32. 4 Lee , 'Ihe LcMer Cape Fear, 38. sr.ee, The L<:::Mer Cape Fear, 101- 102 . 6 Margaret M. Hofmann, camp., Province of North Carolina, 1663- 1729: Abstracts of Land Patents (Weldon: Roanoke News Co., 1979) , 87 and 100; Eric Norden Collection and Eric Norden Map Collection, in North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh; Moseley Map (1733); Collet Map (1770) ; Mouzon Map (1775); Janet Schaw, Journal of A Lady of Quality, edited by Evangeline W. Andrews and Charles M. Andrews (New Haven : Yale University Press, 1921) , 184- 185, 296-298, and passim; and map of "Plantations on the L<:::Mer Cape Fear, 1725- 1760," in Alfred M. Waddell, A History of New Hanover County ana the Lower Cape Fear Region, 1723- 1800 (n.p . : 1909) , facing p. 38. 7 Alexander M. Walker, ed. and camp., New Hanover County, North Carolina • Inferior Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1738-1800 (Bethesda, Maryland: A. M. Walker, 1958) , part 1 , p. 1. Hereinafter cited as Walker, New Hanover • County Court Minutes. 8 New Hanover County Deeds, Book C, p . 268 . 9 0ffice of the Secretary of State of North Carolina. Land Grant Office, Book 5, p. 406 and Book 10, p . 258 . See also pertinent material in Eric Norden Collection and Eric Norden Map Collection. 10 Land Grant Office, Book 2, p. 50 and Book 10, p. 368 .

~ric Norden Collection; Eric Norden Map Collection; Schaw, Journal of A Lady of Quality, 297-299; and J. Bryan Grimes, ed. and canp. , North Carolina Wills and Inventories • ••• (Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1912), 313-319. Edward Moseley' s will described this land as "Lying between Holly Shelter Creek and the bald white Sand hills" (later called Exeter Sand Hills). 1 ~alter Clark, editor, State Records of North Carolina, 16 vols. (Winston and Goldsboro: State of North Carolina, 1895-1905), XXV, 268-270 . See also William L. Saunders, editor, Colonial Records of North Carolina, 10 vols. (Raleigh: State of North Carolina, 1886-1890) , V, 183- 187, 199, 201, 203-206, and 208; .:tnd .Lee , The L<:::Mer Cape Fear, 143 . 13 c1ark, State Records of North Carolina, XXV, 268- 270 • 14 • clark, State Records of North Carolina, XXV; 268-270 . 16

15 clark, State Records of North Carolina, XXV, 268- 270 . 16 • Clark, State Records of North Carolina, XXV , 268-270. 17 c1ark, State Records of North Carolina, XXV, 268- 270 . 18 Clark, State Records of North Carolina, XXV, 373. 19 New Hanover County Deeds, Book D, p. 397. 20 0nslow County Estates Papers, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh. Henry Sk ibl:x:M folder . Skil::lbcM ' s estates papers consist of only one, undated document, listing the items which comprised his estate. There is no mention whatsoever of Exeter. Although the date of Skibl:x:M ' s death is unknown, it must have occurred before 1790 . He was not listed in the first federal census that year. 21 clark, State Records of North Carolina, XXV, 379 . 2~alker , New Hanover County Court Minutes, pt. 1, p. 45 . 23 saunders, Colonial Records of North Carolina, VI, 1116 . 24 saunders, Colonial Records of North Carolina, VI , 1123. See also p. 1195. 2 ~alker, New Hanover County Court Minutes, pt. 1, pp. 57 , 60, and 66 • 26 c1ark, State Records of North Carolina, XXIII , 791; and XXIV, 581. • See also Lee, Lower Cape Fear, 143 . 27 South Washington was situated on Washington Creek near its confuluence with the Northeast Cape Fear. It was laid out as early as 1740 for the Welsh Tract. In 1791 it was incorporated as South Washington, but about 1840 was moved approximately 1~ miles southwest to a site on the newly completed rail road. Its name at the new site was changed to Hiawatha, and has since becane simply Watha . See William s. P<:Mell, The North Carolina Gazetteer (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1968), 467. 28 New Hanover County Deeds, Book D, p . 470. 29 Eric Norden Collection. 30 Harry Roy Merrens, Colonial North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Historical Geography (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1964), 151. 31 Schaw, Journal of A Lady of Quality, 184-185. 32 Schaw, Journal of A Lady of Quality, 177. 33 Hugh F. Rankin , North Carolina in the American Revolution (Raleigh: • North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1959), 61. 17

34 Rankin, North Carolina in the American Revolution, 62-63 • 35 see the William Faden map of "The Marches of Lord Cornwallis in the • Southern Provinces ••• , " published in 1785. Copy in North Carolina State Archives. 36 Rankin, North Carolina in the American Revolution, 64-65. For the location of "Craig' s Fieldworks" at Rutherfurd's Mill, see map in Waddell' s History of New Hanover County, facing p. 38. 37 Schaw, Journal of A Lady of Quality, 298-299 and 312-313; and English Records. Public Record Office. Audit Office Papers, 1765- 1790, Loyalist Claims, John Rutherfurd folder . North Carolina State Archives. 38 Lee, L<:Mer Cape Fear, 143. 39survey by Joseph Dickson in the Eric Norden Map Collection. 40 Robert H. B. Brazier survey in Eric Norden Map Collection. 4 ~ew Hanover County Deeds, Book L 2, p. 735 . I 4 ~ew P.anover County Deeds, Book L 2 , p. 596 . No record could be found of Fentress' s acquisition of these properties. 43 walker, New Hanover County Court Minutes, part 4, p. 79 . 44 New Hanover County Estates Papers, John Player folder . Sales of Player' s • estate were held on 9 October 1801 and on 6 April 1803 . There was no mention of Exeter or of ferry equipment. 45 New Hanover County Deeds, Book X, p . 448 . This deed was not registered until 1839. 46 New Hanover County Deeds, Book X, p . 448; and New Hanover County Wills, Book AB , p. 482. 47 New Hanover County Wills, Book AB , p . 482. 48 New Hanover County Deeds, Book 00 , pp. 45- 46. 49 New Hanover County Deeds, Book II, p. 330. so New Hanover County Deeds, Book RR, p. 591; Book SS , pp. 108-109; and GGG, p . 68. 51 Plats and deed information in the Eric Norden Collection and the Eric Norden Map Collection. 52works Progress Administration. Cemetery Records for Pender County. North Carolina State Archives • 53 B. W. Wells, Vegetation of Holly Shelter Wildlife Management Area • (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development, 1946) r 33-34 and 38. BIBLicx:;RAPHY • Manuscript Sources North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh English Records. Public Record Office. Audit Of£ice Papers, 1765-1790 , Loyalist Claims, John Rutherfurd folder. New Hanover Cou.nty Records Deeds Estates Papers Wills Eric Norden Collection Eric Norden Map Collection Onslow County Records Estates Papers Pender County Records Deeds Estates Papers Wills Works Progress Administration. Cemetery Records for Pender County. Office of the Secretary of State of North Carolina. Land Grant Office, Raleigh.

Published Primary Sources Clark, Walter, editor. State Records of North Carolina. 16 Vols. Winston • and Goldsboro: State of North Carolina, 1895- 1905. Ct.mming , William P. The Southeast in Early Maps. Princeton: P.r inceton University Press, 1958.

Faden, William. "The Marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces. " Map published in 1785 . Copy in North Carolina State Archives.

Grimes, .J. Bryan, editor and canpiler. North Carolina Wills and Inventories. Raleigh: Edwards and Broughton, 1912.

Hofmann, Margaret M., compiler. Province of North Carolina, 1663-1~29: Abstracts of Land Patents. Weldon: Roanoke News Co., 1979 . Saunders, William L., editor. Colonial Records of North Carolina. 10 vols. Raleigh: State of North Carolina, 1886- 1890. Schaw, Janet. Journal of A Lady of Quality, edited by Evangeline W. Andrews and Charles M. Andrews. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921 .

United States Congress. Public Document, 51st Congress, 1st Session. House Executive Document No. 35. Public Document, 6lst Congress, 2nd Session . • House Document No. 867 . 19

Published Primary Sources (continued)

• United States Congress. Public Document, 62nd Congress, 3rd Session. House Document No . 1356.

Walker, Alexander M. , editor and canpiler. New Hanover County, North Carolina. Inferior Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1738-1800. Bethesda, Maryland: A. M. Walker, 1958.

Secondary Sources

Bloodworth, Mattie. History of Pender County, North Carolina. Richmond: Dietz Printing Co., 1947.

Lee, E. Lawrence. The Lower Cape Fear in Colonial Days. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1965.

Merrens, Harry Roy. Colonial North .Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Hi~torical Geography. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1964.

Po.vell, William S. The North Carolina Gazetteer. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1968 •

Rankin, Hugh F. North Carolina in the American Revolution. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1959. • Waddell, Alfred M. A History of New Hanover County and the Lower Cape Fear Region, 1723-1800. N.p.: 1909.

Wells, B. W. Vegetation of Holly Shelt~r Wildlife Management Area. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Conservation and Develor;rnent, 1946. • ..

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EARLY PLANTATIONS IN LOWER CAPE FEAR REGION From A His too; gt Hwt Hanover County, by Alfred M. Waddell, at Library of Con- gress. Based. on map drawn by Captain Samuel A'Court Ashe (1840-1938), C. s. •A. , of \olhiob a copy is held by Pender County Public Library, Burea.w, North Carolina. '. CoLt.. e l M c, p rl

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(i 0 c this fort resembles a v~ · ...... I l ar quite so tremendous, ticks. If these are our f f ' I ~ati\"cS rchcl; for I will I;_\) nt of black-guard Edin dt their own pop-guns. my journal of the fie resent situation here. : I · fort, but forgot to tell I . lies here,:!: which, like I

,{ the road running north on \ map in The American Atlas I is referred to in the {ollow- wl ; 766. "As Robert Snow and his 'i1h that harmony which the ; f tlo cir mulual case agreed to they cannot totally dissolve," ision of the property (Bruns I ' nces, and Inventories, pp. 67, 's ; hence a separation rather 1 I th so little respect, was Fort river. It was built of "upia," : lis, sand, and water, forming vhich was poured into boxes, hy. T he fort was constructed pi:t ancl a lower battery and t, "1183). Governor Tryon, in / c proportions observed in the ·ri:tls with which it is built. y gun fi red brings down some .he ordnance his Majesty has statements, 1754 (ih., V, 158), ih., VI, 614-615). ' r of the province but to the hn Collet. Captain Seater on ··~·,· l{;S, a pcrquisit~ that went to ... of vessels their product bill"

T he Lower Cape Fear: 1770. From J ohn Collet's manuscript map of North Carolina in the British Museum.

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North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Division of Archives and History James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor William S. Price. Jr., Director Betty Ray McCain, Secretary

June 23 , 1993

Mr. Mike Alford North Carol ina Maritime Museum 315 Front Street Beaufort , North Carolina 28516 Dea r Mike , I so moved by your phone call the other day that I was contribution to decided to see if I could make an additional Enclosed pleas e find a modest article on the the cause. i on of colonial town of Exeter--a revi sion and condensat longer report prepared for the Underwater a somewhat giving the Archaeology Unit some eleven years ago . After thought, I concluded that it would make a better matter some Inlet s tudy I article for Tributaries than the Carolina Beach mentioned . if you feel under no obligation to use this article Please you wish , put it have enough material from other sources. If it might come in handy . Fo r aside until next year or whenever of purposes, you could include pertinent sections illustration also provide a either the Collet or Mouzon maps. I could photograph if you think that would be negative of a 1938 aerial or i n , feel free either to use this article now useful . Aga be hurt. save it for another time. My feelings won't With best wishes, I am Sincerely yours , {: ·yi;=---L_ Wilson Angley, ~se~h;r Research Branch

WA : lk Enclosure

109 East Jones Street • Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-2807 Colonial Phantom on the Northeast Cape Fear: A Brief History of the Exeter Site

Wilson Angley June 1993

Research Branch North Carolina Division of Archives and History settlement From the early stages of European exploration and Cape Fear River of North Carolina, the lands along the Northeast area for and its tributaries were recognized as a prime lumber and naval agricultural development and the production of Hilton set stores . In August of 1662 the New Englander William bound for sail from Massachusetts Bay aboard the ship Adventure, reach his the Cape Fear region . After several failures to the Cape Fear on appointed destination, he entered the mouth of three weeks Hilton the morning of October 4, 1662. For more than the Adventure as and his associates explored the stream. Taking by smal l boat up far as present-day Wilmington, he then proceeded of the the Northeast branch, which he took to be a continuation a point main river. Hilton is thought to have reached bar; and it is approximately sixt y miles upstream from the ocean impressed by the evident that both he and his men were favorably area's luxuriant vegetation and abundant game . l to In October of 1663 Hilton returned aboard the Adventure Fear region . conduct a more extensive exploration of the Cape Fear in a small Again he and his men ascended the Northeast Cape given to landmarks boat; and on this second expedition names were ," "Rocky and areas far upstream, including "Turkie- Qua r ters by Governor Point , " and "Stag Park"--the vast a rea later claimed from the future George Burrington only a short distance upriver was palpably site of Exeter . Once more the expeditionary party , dry well wooded , taken with the region: "As good tracts of land in the world . "2 pleasant and delight ful as we have seen any where 2 establish Although there were several abortive attempts to years just settlements along the lower Cape Fear during the did not following the Hilton expeditions, permanent settlement of Maurice finally begin until the mid-1720s with the coming 1726 and Moore and the laying out of Brunswick Town. Between acquired by a 1731 some 115,000 acres of Cape Fear land were Lands were closely associated group of about three dozen men. stream but also taken up not only along the ·lower reaches of the The resulting along both the Northwest and Northeast branches. few concentration of large landholdings among a relatively the wealthy and influential men went far toward establishing area until the plantation pattern which remained dominant in the Civil war.3 Revolution , During the half century preceding the American Cape Fear , vast plantations were laid off on the Northeast of extending far upstream from the fledgling settlement , the early Wilmington (formerly New Town or Newton). Moreover some of the most landowners on the Northeast Cape Fear included Carolina . prominent and influential men in colonial North included Samuel Landowners in the immediate vicinity of Exeter , Thomas Merrick , Swann, John and Alexander Lillington, John Ashe . 4 John Porter, Edward Moseley, and John Rutherfurd The land which would soon become the site of Exeter r of 1750 by (originally New Exeter> was acquired in Septe mbe 3 being an David Williams and Henry Skibbow (or Sciboe) , the latter of New obscure planter and surveyor who had been a resident to his Hanover County since at least as early as 1738. Prior of purchase of the Exeter tract, Skibbow's principal place Creek . 5 residence was situated in the forks of Bolly Shelter of The 100 acre Exeter tract was located on the e ast side Sand Hill the Northeast Cape Fear River a short distance below and Cove and on both sides of Jumping Run Branch. Skibbow that they Williams received the grant with a standard provision three clear and cultivate at least three acres of land within years . 6 for Less than three years later , in April of 1753 , a grant tract , was 100 acres of land , adjoining and just above the Exeter of Henry. issued to Lewis Skibbow, presumably the son or brother along Lewis Skibbow's grant also contained considerable frontage boundary the east bank of the Northeast Cape Fear. Its upper present extended from the river bank northeastward beyond the marked Holly Shelter Road, and lay along part of the line which Moseley the lower boundary of a grant originally issued to Edward pson Moseley in June of 1740. This Moseley land had pas sed to Sam be at the death of his father in 1749, and would, in 1772, purchased by the transplanted Scotsman, John Rutherfurd.7 Skibbow It was on the 1750 grant to David Williams and Henry incorporated that the town of Exeter (or New Exeter) was formally 4 support of by the colonial assembly in 1754, apparently with the counties, certain residents of New Hanover , Onslow, and Duplin achieve a who conceived an expectation that the settlement would trade. The measure of success as a riverport and center of local for the assembly stipulated that forty acres should be set aside side of the town "on the plantation of Henry Skibbow on the east county , at a north east branch of Cape Fear river , in New Hanover 8 named as place called the Sand Hill." The act of incorporation , Thomas town commissioners Alexander Lillington, Samuel Ashe further Merrick, John Gardner, and Henry Skibbow himself. It into authorized these commissioners to lay off the town tract , for a one-half acre lots , "with convenient streets and squares of a lot church, church yard , and market place. "9 Each purchaser was required, within two years, to build a good substantial habitable framed or brick house , of not less dimensions than twenty feet in length , and sixteen feet wide , besides sheds and leantoes, or make prepara tion for so doing , as the commissioners, or a majority of them, shall think reasonable.lU seems Despite the sanguine hopes of its promoters , Exeter . An to have stumbled in the very threshold of development period examination of the New Hanover County deeds of this reveals not a single transaction from any of the town town lot. commissioners which can be identified as conveying a County do unfortunately , too , the court minutes for New Hanover potentially not survive from the period 1742- 1758, so that this 5 valuable source of information sheds no light on the years during which development activities at Exeter might have been at their height . Notwithstanding the lack of documentary evidence for the sale of town lots , Exeter was designated as an official customs inspection point in 1755 , only one year after its incorporation. The "Act for the Inspection of Pork , Beef, Rice, Indigo, Tar , Pitch, Turpentine , Staves, Headings , Shingles , and Lumbe r " named the new town along with Brunswick, Wilmington , and New Topsail sound as the places of inspection in New Hanover County.ll Henry Skibbow himself appears to have moved away from the Exeter area within a few years of the town ' s incorporation. Be later died intestate in Onslow County, at which time Lewis Skibbow acted as administrator of his modest estate.l2 Despite its apparent lack of development , Exeter was again designated in 1758 as an inspection point for customs in New Hanover County , along with Brunswick , Wilmington , and New Topsail sound; and in 1761 the county court appointed John Gardner, original treasurer of the town commissioners , to act as customs inspector there . l3 In 1764 , however , certain members of the upper house of the colonial assembly raised objections to Exeter's continuing designation as a place of inspection, on the basis of its commercial insignificance: We are of Opinion , that New Exeter being a place of no Note or Business, is improper for 6

a place of Inspection [and) that the inser tion of it [by the lower house), cannot answer, any publick Good, though it may [se r ve) the • . • interests of Individ uals{,] and t~~t therefore it should be dele[teld. house that It was only at the insistence of members of the lower Exeter retained its apparently dubious status as an inspection point for a few more years . 15 The act of 1764 was to be the last in which Exeter was of named as a customs inspection point. In similar legislation and in 1770 Exeter was deleted from the list of such places; included 1784 the town of South Washington, further upriver , was 16 customs for the first time . The exclusion of Exeter from the the legislation of 1770 and 1784 would seem to indicate that been a town was never a port of major consequence. It may have least river l anding of some local significance, however, at until the rise of south Washington . l7 the Despite the paucity of documentary evidence concerning off by development of Exeter, the town evidently had been laid to John 1760 . In October of that year John Ashe, planter, sold Gardner , me rchant and original treasurer of the town land commissioners , a 290 acre tract of apparently unimproved just south of the 1750 grant to Henry Skibbow and David The Williams. Ashe himself had acquired this tract in 1754. to: " •• • property description in the 1760 conveyance referred the North all that Plantation tract or parcel of land . • • on 7

East branch of Cape Fear River on the lower side of the tract 18 where New Exeter is lai d out ." Although this deed reveals that Exeter had at least been " laid out" by 1760 , i t is perhaps . significant that no indication is given of an actual settlement . Another documentary reference to Exeter was recorded in 1772 When Sampson Moseley sold seven tracts of land to John Rutherfurd during that year, one of them was described as "Beginning at a pine on the river side near Exeter •• •• "19 The evidence provided by eighteenth century maps is somewhat more revealing with regard to the rather bri ef The existence of Exeter as a settlement and local trade center . , was Moseley Map of 1733 , drawn by l ocal resident Edward Moseley produced two decades prior to the incorporation of Exeter and e gives no indication of settlement at the site . At this tim for water apparently furnished the sole means of transportation The settlers as far upriver as the future l ocat ion of Exeter. a town first appears on the Collet Map of 1770 . By this time road extended all along the western side of the Northeast Cape Fear. Another road , on the east side of the river , extended northward from Harrison ' s ferry to Exeter , thence northeastward across Holly Shelter Creek to join the road leading from the Wilmington to New Bern. The Collet Map not only documents location and existence of Exeter , but also indicates the :

8 of 1775 presence of seven structures there. The Mouzon Map . The indicates the presence of eleven structures at Exeter the roads in the area had not changed appreciably during connecting previous five years, except that a road was now shown river the north-south road to the west of the river with the likely bank directly opposite Exeter. It is, therefore , very American that a ferry was in operation at Exeter prior to the Revolution.20 of During the f i nal stages of the Revolution, the port importance Wilmington became a place of considerable strategic of 1781 a to both British and Patriot forces . In l ate January of about British fleet sailed up the Cape Fear bringing a force or no 450 British troops under Major James Craig. With little a opposition, Craig's forces seized Wilmington and began course of prolonged occupation. From time to t ime , during the into the this occupation, Craig dispatched expeditionary forces surrounding countryside, including the area on the Northeast 21 Cape Fear in the vicinity of Exeter . Craig and his forces were engaged in fortifying positions ' s in and around Wilmington when General Charles Cornwallis remained for t roops arrived in town on 7 April 1781. Cornwallis his only a little more than two weeks , however, before starting along long march northward into Virginia. This march led him the western side of the Northeast Cape Fear and brought 9 on the widespread destruction in its wake . Exeter is indicated in 1785; William Faden Map of the Cornwallis march , published passed but it is clear that the main body of British troops Fear. northward along the western side of the Northeast Cape Exeter , Although plantations were laid waste across the river, 22 presumably, was spared . After Cornwallis ' s departure, Craig continued his One of his acitivities in Wilmington and the surrounding area. was outlying fortifications along the Northeast Cape Fear Ashe ' s constructed as far away as John Rutherfurd ' s mill on is, Creek , only a short distance upriver from Exeter. It the therefore , almost cert ain that Exeter was involved in possible various movements of Craig ' s troops . It is also quite the that Exeter was a river landing of some importance to Patriot militia forces under the command of General Alexander Lillington, a resident of the area . 23 By the end of the eighteenth century, if not well before, had the plan to establish a permanent settlement at Exeter apparently gone aglimmering. Probably , this development miles was hastened by the rise of South Washington only a few limited upriver , although South washington itself was of very of the importance in its original location. 24 A 1794 survey Creek to area between Merrick's Creek to the south and Ashe's way, but the north records the location of Exeter in a general at this indicates no structures there . Mills were indicated .·

10 Creek time on both Ashe's Creek ("Ashes Mill") and Lillington was not shown . 25 ("General Lillington Mill") ; Jumping Run Branch of 1808. Nor Exeter did not appear on the Price-Strother Map "Plan of Part of was the Exeter site in any way indicated on the in 1827 for the Holly Shelter swamp , " prepared by H. B. Brazier state Board of Internal Improvements.26 as to Documentary references to the Exeter site are vague that the 100 acre the extent of its developme nt; but it is clear Williams was tract originally granted to Henry Skibbow and David century. In being divided and sold by the end of the eighteenth blacksmith John a transaction between one James Fentress and the made to the Player, in October of 1798 , specific reference was site.27 inclusion of a large portion of the Exeter town by the county Morever , in December of 1798 Player was authorized r at a place court "to keep a ferry over the North East Rive Bridge [i . e . , called Exeter with the same fees as at the big 28 Player act ually Heron ' s Bridge, several miles downriver) ." If do so for long . operated this ferry , as authorized , he did not t estate was By October of 1801 Player was dead , and his modes 29 sold at public auction. Meeks In December of 1822 one Boney Player sold to Staten The 125 acres of the l and formerly owned by John Player. included the 100 recited consideration was only $60. This land acres of acres granted to Lewis Skibbow in 1753 and twenty-five 11 Staten the original Henry Skibbow and David Williams grant.30 children. Meeks died in 1848, leaving as heirs his wife and four site Their descendants would retain possession of the Exeter well into the twentieth century.31 Sand By 1946 the area along the Northeast Cape Fear from of Hill Cove past the mouth of Jumping Run Branch (1 . 8 miles comprising river frontage) was embraced within the 48 , 000 acres of the the Holly Shelter Wildlife Management Area. This area as being river bank , especially the upper portion, was described near the an elevated sandy ridge, with its steepest declivity that this spot where a lodge had been constructed. It was noted sand short stretch of shoreline was distinctive for its white trees . and the preponderance of oak, hickory, and other hardwood of It was also noted that the sloping banks along this section . 32 It is the river provided "an ideal feeding ground" for deer by not likely that these factors would have been overlooked two those who contemplated a settlement in the area nearly centuries earlier. the Only a few years ago , the prospect of at last locating colonial town of Exeter lured a contingent of the state's at Underwater Archaeology Unit from their base of operations remnants Kure Beach. True, no one had stumbled upon any onshore of the elusive settlement , but perhaps evidence of maritime the activity could be located beneath the murky waters of Northeast Cape Fear. Armed with this writer ' s historical .·

12 the detection information and with the lates t technologies for ts conducted a of submerged anomalies , these modern-day Argonau is believed to careful survey of the shoreline area where Exeter ic have stood . In the fullness of time, a huge magnet shipwreck disturbance inspired hopes that an eighteenth- century of the large had indeed been found; but an ensuing examination The and intriguing object proved more than disappointing. truck, which had potential shipwreck was , in fact , a 1983 Toyota the thief to a been stolen from its owner and later consigned by essential watery grave. After more than two centuries , the . 33 attributes and ultimate fate of Exeter remain unknown ..

FOOTNOTES

Lee , The Lower Cape Fear in Colonial Days lE. Lawrence Press , 1965) , 31- (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina 32. 38. 2Lee, The Lower Cape Fear in Colonial Days, 101- 102. 3Lee, The Lower Cape Fear in Colonial Days, Caro- 4Margaret M. Hofmann, comp ., Province of North Abstracts of Land Patents (Weldon: Roanoke lina, 1663-1729: and Eric News Co. , 1979) , 87 and 100; Eric Norden Collection , North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh; Norden Map Collection Mouzon Map (1775), Moseley Map (1733) , Collet Map (1770) , and Archives; Janet Schaw, Journal of A Lady of North Carolina State M. Andrews edited by Evangeline w. Andrews and Charles Quality, 184-185 , 296-298, and (New Haven: Yale University Press , 1921 ) , on the Lower Cape Fear , 1725- passim; and map of "Plantations and M. Waddell, A History of New Hanover County 1760 , " in Alfred : [1909]), the Lower Cape Fear Region, 1723- 1800 (Wilmington facing p. 38. 5New Hanover County Deeds, Book c, p . 268. Carolina. Land 6office of the secretary of state of North Book 5, p . 406 and Book 10, p . 258. see also Grant Office, and Eric Norden Map pertinent material in Eric Norden Collection Collection. ; den Collection; Eric Norden Map Collection 7Eric Nor J . Bryan Journal of a Lady of Quality, 297-299; and Schaw, and Inventories Grimes, ed. and comp. , North Carolina Wills and Broughton, 1912) , 313-319. Edward I Edwards • I I (Raleigh: described this land as "Lying between Holly Moseley ' s will (later called Exeter Shelter Creek and the bald white Sand hills" Sand Hills) • , 16 Clark , ed. state Records of North Carolina 8walter Carolina, 1895- vols . (Winston and Goldsboro: State of North . See also William L. Saunders , ed. , Colonial 1905) , xxv, 268-270 State of North Records of North Carolina , 10 vols ~ (Raleigh: , v, 183- 187 , 199 , 201 , 203 - 206, and 208; Carolina, 1886-1890) 143 . and Lee , The Lower Cape Fear in Colonial Days, 268-270. 9clark, State Records of North Carolina , xxv, 268-270. 10clark, state Records of North Carolina, xxv, ,.

14 373 . llclark , State Records of North Carolina, xxv , 397; and Onslow 12see New Hanover County Deeds , Book D, p . Carolina State Archives , Henry county Estates Papers , North one, r . Skibbow ' s estates papers consist of only Skibbow folde hi s estate. There undated document , l i sting the items comprising of Exeter. Although the date of is no mention whatsoever . is unknown , it must have occurred before 1790 Skibbow's death that year. He was not listed in the f i rst federal census 379; and 13clark , State Records of North Carolina , xxv , . and comp. , New Hanover County , North Al exander M. Walker , ed , 1738- . Inferior Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions Caroli na 1958) , part 1, p . 45 . laQQ (Bethesda , Maryland: A.M . Wa l ker , VI r 1116 . 14saunders , CQlQDial BeQQt:QS Qf NQt:tb CSiH.:Q lin2 , vi , 1123 . 15saunders , CQ lQDi2l BeQQ[QS Qf NQttb C~ t:Q liD2 r see also p. 1195. and 16 State BeCQ[dS Qf NQttb Cat:Ql i na , XXII I , 791; clark , in CQlQoial Days , XXIV, 581 . See also Lee , The LQwer Cape Feat 143 . near 17 washington was situated on Washington Creek south It was laid out as its confluence with the Northeast Cape Fear. Tract . In 1791 it was incorporated early as 1740 for the Welsh 1/2 , but about 1840 was moved approximately 1 as south washi ngton railroad . Its miles southwest to a site on the newly completed was changed to Hiawatha, and has since name at the new site CarQlina simply watha . See William s. Powell , The NQt:th become North Carol ina Press , Gazetteet: (Chapel Hill: The University of 1968) I 467 • 18New Hanover County Deeds , Book Dr p. 470 . 19Eric Norden Collection . , and Mouzon Map 20see Moseley Map (1733) , Collet Map (1770) (1775) , No r th Carolina state Archives. Rankin , North CarQlina in the Amet:ican BevQlutiQD 21Hugh F. and History , (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Archives 1959), 61. 2 the William Faden map of "The Marches of Lord 2 see . , "published in 1785 . Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces .. • Copy in the North Carolina State Archives. 15 23Rank i n , North Carol ina in the American Revolution , 64- 65 . of "Craig ' s Fieldworks" at Rutherfurd ' s Mill , For the location p. 38 . see map in Waddell' s History of New Hanover Count y , facing 24Lee , The Lower Cape Fear in Colonial Days , 143. 25see survey by Joseph Dickson in Er ic Norden Map Collection . r Map (1808) , North Carolina State 26see Price-Strothe Map Ar chives; and survey by Robert H. B. Brazi e r in Er ic Norden Collect ion. 27 New Hanover County Deeds , Book L 2, p . 735. 28walker, New Hanove r County • • Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions , part 4, p . 79 . 29New Hanover County Estates Papers , John Player fol der. Sal es of Player's estate were hel d on 9 October 1801 and 6 Apr i l 1803 . There was no mention of Exeter or of ferry equi pment . 30 New Hanover County Deeds, Book x, p • 448 . Th i s deed was not registered until 1839. 31 For the wi ll of St at en Meeks , see New Hanover County Wills , Book A B, p . 482 , North Carolina State Archives . 32B. w. Wells , Vegetation of Holly Shelter Wi ldlife Management Area (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development, 1 946) , 33- 34 and 38 . 33For a more detailed account of this expedition by one of the participants , see Mark Wilde-Ramsing , "Another Fine Wreck You ' ve Gotten Us In!," North Carolina Historic Preservation Office Newsletter (Winter 1992) , 22.