A HISTORIAN'S COAST 



Scraping for turpentine at the turn of the century. 

 The technology for harvesting turpentine had changed little since pre-Civil War days. 



The Rise and Fall of the Rich Lands 



By David Cecelski 



The story of an Onslow County 

 turpentine planter sheds brilliant light 

 on the coast's most important industry 

 before the Civil War — but it also 

 unveils an untold saga of ecological ruin. 



Recently I walked across the 

 former site of the Rich Lands plantation 

 in Onslow County, a shining jewel in the 

 naval stores industry of the Old South. 

 John Avirett and more than 125 slaves 

 built a kingdom out of the longleaf 

 pine's sap, producing vast quantities of 

 turpentine, tar, pitch and rosin. Long 

 gone, the Rich Lands once sprawled 

 across more than 22,000 acres just east 

 of what is now the town of Richlands, 



between Kenansville and Jacksonville. 



With the help of Dennis Jones, a 

 local historian and educator, I went in 

 search of the Rich Land's former glory. 

 Poking around pine woods, we found 

 circular imprints of old tar pits still 

 scarring the earth. Dennis showed me a 

 thick layer of rosin residue by the banks 

 of Catherine's Lake, the former site of 

 Avirett' s turpentine distilleries. He also 

 pointed out an old rice dam and a well- 

 chiseled marl bed, once a source of lime 

 for the plantation's fields. Toward dusk 

 he led me to Alum Spring, which rises 

 out of a gaping limestone rift. Now in 

 deep forest, the spring was a popular 

 picnic spot for some of the wealthiest 



planters in North Carolina. 



Finally, Dennis showed me the way 

 to the Avirett family cemetery. It was 

 only a few graves surrounded by a 

 crumbling brick wall tangled in trumpet 

 vine. Not far off, we barely made out the 

 low spot where the Rich Lands slaves are 

 said to have buried their dead. 



Dennis and I recognized these 

 landmarks because James Battle Avirett, 

 John's son, wrote an extraordinary 

 memoir of growing up at the Rich Lands. 

 Published in 1901, The Old Plantation is 

 an unparalleled account of our turpentine 

 boom days — the days that made us Tar 

 Heels. After reading Avirett' s memoir, 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 21 



