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An article published in The News and Observer in 1924 reported that Bucklesberry was opened to colonization in 1825. This claim has been debunked, based on two land documents stored at the State Archives of North Carolina. Having recently come to light, one is a land patent dated 1738 that explicitly named Bucklesberry.
Challenges and risks awaited early eighteenth century settlers who arrived in the unsettled Bucklesberry Pocosin of then old Craven County. According to historian and author Dr. Lindley S. Butler, PhD, "The backcountry was the last area of the State to be settled and, consequently, the most volatile region of North Carolina society for many years."
An abundance of land awaited the earliest settlers who arrived in the unsettled backcountry of Bucklesberry in the early to mid-1700s. Defined by Historian and author Dr. Lindley S. Butler, PhD, backcountry was a "term used during the early settlement and colonial periods for the vast interior of North Carolina, located away from the coastline and including both the modern day Piedmont and Mountain regions."
A 1924 article in The News and Observer claimed that colonization in Bucklesberry began in 1825. This article was followed three years later by a 1927 publication from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Authors R. C. Jurney and W. A. Davis reported the results of a Lenoir County soil sample survey, which suggested, to the contrary, that colonization ensued much earlier.
The actual point in time that Bucklesberry was opened to colonization has been bandied about for generations. Although an exact year is virtually impossible to ascertain, a November 6, 1924 news story nonetheless reported that colonization in Bucklesberry began in 1825. Reprinted here, the article appeared in the State's then-leading newspaper, The News and Observer of Raleigh:
Largely unsettled swamp land in the beginning, Bucklesberry of Lenoir County is known today for its nutrient-rich soil that yields some of the finest crops in the Southeast. In fact, early land patents identified the area as "Bucklesberry Pocosin" (i.e., swamp or wetlands).
Arguably the oldest named farm community in Lenoir County, NC, Bucklesberry is nestled along the north side of the Neuse River, a few miles south of the town of La Grange. Its geographic location has remained the same over time, but its boundaries have modified and county affiliation has varied as North Carolina's counties were formed and renamed during the last half of the eighteenth century.
