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ORTON NURSERY AND PLANTATION OPERATIONS FROM ABOUT 1939 THROUGH 1960, BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA Chicora Research Contribution 568 Cover photographs are stills from the ca. 1949 Tom Draper 16mm color film, “Orton Plantation Under Spring Skies.” ORTON NURSERY AND PLANTATION OPERATIONS FROM ABOUT 1938 THROUGH 1960, BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA Prepared By: Michael Trinkley, Ph.D. and Debi Hacker Prepared For: Belvedere Property Management, LLC 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 17th Floor New York, NY 10020 CHICORA RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION 568 Chicora Foundation, Inc. PO Box 8664 Columbia, SC 29202 803-787-6910 www.chicora.org February 2016 This report is printed on permanent paper ∞ © 2016 by Belvedere Property Management. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of Belvedere Property Management except for brief quotations used in reviews. Full credit must be given to the authors, publisher, and project sponsor. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Like too many commercial enterprises, There is almost no literature dealing with very few records have survived to document the the history of nursery production in the history of Orton Plantation’s gardens and nursery. Southeastern United States. This study begins to Historical accounts, such as the cultural landscape help fill that void. report by Knott and her colleagues have relied on salvaged bits and pieces scattered at various repositories. This document assembles the currently known records of the plantation gardens and nursery, including correspondence and bills dating from 1937 through 1943, along with bank and accounting records dating from 1963 through 1973. While still resulting in a less than thorough historical overview, this study does address a previously ignored aspect of southeastern plantations – their development and operation during the twentieth century. The research explores the business operations of Orton Plantation, including its agricultural production, forestry operations, the development and operation of its public gardens, and the activities of the Orton Plantation Nursery. The research has resulted in assembling a near complete history of plantation superintendents or managers, as well as other staff. The document explores the interactions between the gardens and the nursery, looking at the plants that were brought in and that were sold. Valuable information concerning Orton’s response to the camellia petal blight of the late 1940s and early 1950s is also assembled. The investigations help document the evolution of the Orton gardens through various landscape plans, revealing that the gardens represent a very dynamic landscape that was constantly changing. Similarly, it helps to document the growth and modifications that occurred in the nursery, tracking greenhouses, slat houses, irrigation systems, and even pesticide usage. i ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures v List of Tables vi Introduction 1 An Introduction to Orton 1 Synopsis of Orton During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 3 The Nursery Industry 4 The Orton Nursery Records 6 James Sprunt and the Beginning of the Orton Gardens 7 James Laurence Sprunt and the Orton Gardens and Nursery 15 Sturtevant and His Plans 16 Sprunt and His Plans 22 Sprunt Hires Bragaw 23 The Initial Activities: 1937-1938 25 Growth and Maturity: 1939-1941 35 Ferger and Orton 66 Onis D. Hyatt 71 Alex Bogie as Manager 77 Profit and Loss Statements from 1963 Through 1973 81 The Closing Years 85 Pat Marshburn as Manager 85 David Sprunt’s Activities 88 Orton Greenhouses 89 Summary 95 Evolution of the Gardens and Nursery 95 Orton Catalogs 100 A Different Interpretation of the Nursery’s Decline 101 Sources 103 iii iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Location of Orton in Brunswick County 1 2. The Orton mansion looking northwest about 1890 4 3. The post-WWII rise in home ownership 5 4. Growth of the nursery industry in North Carolina 5 5. Orton Plantation in ca. 1910 and 1911 8 6. Early landscaping around the Orton House, ca. 1911 9 7. Chapels on Orton 10 8. 1921 survey of Orton Plantation 11 9. A portion of the 1924 Chart 150 12 10. Eva and John Batchelor 15 11. Sturtevant’s 1937 “Orton Plantation” 17 12. Sturtevant’s “The Gardens at Orton 18 13. Bragaw in college 24 14. Promotional brochure distributed by Longview Nursery 29 15. Poster promoting the government’s war on venereal disease 32 16. 1939 aerial of the main Orton Plantation complex 36 17. Orton Nursery wood plant tag 60 18. Orton in 1940 62 19. Bragaw’s military photograph 65 20. James Ferger in 1937 66 21. Fertilizers used at Orton 69 22. Stills from the motion picture “Orton Plantation Under Spring Skies” 73 23. Stills from the motion picture “Orton Plantation Under Spring Skies” 74 24. Olin D. Hyatt at Orton 75 25. Kenneth Sprunt with camellias in 1954 78 26. A portion of Gillette’s January 1955 plan for Orton 80 27. Example of the asphalt paved walks at Orton 81 28. Profit and loss data for various Orton Plantation operations 82 29. During the 1960s revenue was also generated by licensing images of Orton 83 30. Orton around 2000 86 31. Orton around 2007 87 32. Ticket stub for the “Orton Plantation Gardens” 88 33. Randy Bridge, Grounds manager at Orton 88 34. Clarence Jones at Orton 89 35. Nursery structures at Orton in October 2010 90 36. Greenhouse 1 91 37. Other Orton Greenhouses 92 38. Remnants of the camellia house 93 39. Total listings of different plants in Orton catalogs 101 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Plants listed by Sturtevant for Orton 20 2. Camellia varieties obtained from multiple nurseries in 1939 37 3. List of Orton African American workers and family members about 1940 41 4. Agricultural seeds and plants purchased in 1941 54 5. Yearly salaries of Orton employees in 1940 61 6. Seeds and plants purchased in 1943 70 7. Schedule of life estate assets at Orton 82 8. Dwellings occupied by African American workers about 1960 82 9. Approximated payroll for Orton employees in 1975 84 10. Superintendents at Orton 96 11. Orton catalogs 100 vi Introduction Historical research at Orton has focused resources will continue to be uncovered and the on the plantation and its owners prior to the Orton story will be refined and perhaps portions twentieth century; relatively little attention has will even be rewritten. been directed to the twentieth century plantation landscape, gardens, and nursery. The exception, of An Introduction to Orton course, is the very detailed research shown by the cultural landscape report for Orton (Laura Knott Orton Plantation is situated on the west and her colleagues (Knott et al. 2014). bank of the Cape Fear River in Brunswick County, about midway between Wilmington, to the north This current study expands on the earlier in New Hanover County, and Southport work, focusing on the contributions that can be (historically known as Smithville) to the south in offered by the remnant business papers for the Brunswick County (Figure 1). plantation and its nursery from 1938 to 1943, although both earlier and later information has Orton and Kendal were settled by Roger been added. The result is a new view of Orton Moore in the first half of the eighteenth century operations and gardens during the twentieth and then went through a long series of different century. While as thorough as possible at this owners (Trinkley and Hacker 2012, Knott et al. point in time, we have no doubt that additional 2014, and Trinkley and Hacker 2016). In 2010, a descendant of Roger Moore, Louis Moore Bacon, began acquiring the ancestral Orton lands, assembling the property under the name of Orton Plantation Holding, LLC (“Builder’s Descendent Buys Part of Orton Plantation,” Star News, Wilmington, NC, May 6, 2010). Nearly 7,000 acres of Orton are today under a perpetual conservation easement with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust. This ensures the protection of the historic boundary of the plantation by including woodlands, agricul- tural fields, restored rice fields, water courses and gardens. The National Register of Historic Places boundary has been expanded to approximately 1,100 acres. In addition, Mr. Figure 1. Location of Orton in Brunswick County, North Carolina. Bacon has funded extensive 1 INTRODUCTION research into the history and archaeology of the 78°F and the average high is 86°F. The average Orton and Kendal Plantations, including this winter temperature is 47°F and the average daily current study of Orton’s nursery. minimum is 37°F. The average relative humidity is about 60%, although the dawn average is about Brunswick County is in the Inner Coastal 85%. Plain and ranges in elevation from sea level to 75 feet above mean sea level (AMSL). At higher Average rainfall is about 55 inches, falling elevations, the land is dissected to form gently throughout the year. About 32 inches, or 60%, rolling hills and valleys. In the vicinity of Orton usually falls during the growing season of April Plantation elevations range from about 5 to 20 through September. The area has a growing feet AMSL. season of 265 days. This, combined with the rainfall levels, creates a climate that is supportive The physiography is dominated by the of a range of Southeastern crops. Cape Fear River. The tidal range at Fort Caswell, situated at the mouth of the Cape Fear and Küchler (1964) identified the potential essentially representing oceanic tides, is about 6.7 natural vegetation of the Brunswick County area feet. The measured salinity of the water at this as his Southern Mixed Forest, although in close location is 24ppt. Open ocean salinity is generally proximity were larger areas of Oak-Hickory Pine in the range from 32 to 37ppt.

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