Robeson County, North Carolina

Robeson County (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell)<ref name="North Carolina Collection">Talk Like a Tarheel Template:Webarchive, from the North Carolina Collection website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved August 16, 2023.</ref> is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of North Carolina and is its largest county by land area. Its county seat and largest community is Lumberton. The county was formed in 1787 from part of Bladen County and named in honor of Thomas Robeson, a colonel who had led Patriot forces in the area during the Revolutionary War. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 116,530. It is a majority-minority county; its residents are approximately 38 percent Native American, 22 percent white, 22 percent black, and 10 percent Hispanic. It is included in the Fayetteville-Lumberton-Pinehurst, NC Combined Statistical Area. The state-recognized Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is headquartered in Pembroke.

The area eventually comprising Robeson was initially inhabited by Native Americans, though little is known about them. By the mid-1700s, a Native community had coalesced around the swamps near Lumber River, which bisects the area. Later in the century, Scottish, English, and French settlers occupied the other lands. The population remained sparse for decades due to the lack of suitable land for farming, and timber and naval stores formed a crucial part of the early economy. The proliferation of the cotton gin and rising demand for cotton led Robeson County to become one of the state's major cotton-producing counties throughout the 1800s. The Lowry War was fought between a group of mostly-Native American outlaws and local authorities during the latter stages of the American Civil War and through the Reconstruction era. After Reconstruction ended, a unique system of tripartite racial segregation was instituted in the county to separate whites, blacks, and Native Americans.

In the early 20th century, Robeson developed significant tobacco and textile industries while many of its swamp lands were drained and roads were paved. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the county experienced tensions over racial desegregation. During the same period, local agriculture mechanized, and the manufacturing industry grew. The new sector was unable to provide stable enough employment to locals, and by the 1980s, Robeson was heavily afflicted by cocaine trafficking. The narcotics trade fueled violence, social unrest, political tensions, and police corruption and caused the county's statewide reputation to suffer. The county's economy was further damaged by significant declines in the tobacco and textile industries in the 1990s and early 2000s, which have now been supplanted by the supply of fossil fuels, poultry farming, biogas and bio-mass facilities, and logging. Robeson continues to rank low on several statewide socioeconomic indicators.

History

Early history and colonial era

File:LumberRiverStatePark.jpg

The Lumber River as seen from the boat launch at Princess Ann near Orrum.

Indigenous people have lived in the region as early as 20,000 BC,<ref name= lumberriversp/> though little is known about those who lived there in the pre-colonial and early colonial eras.Template:Sfn Archeological excavations in the area eventually encompassing Robeson County have uncovered glass beads—often used by Native Americans in trade, pottery, and clay pipes.Template:Sfn Archeologist Stanley Knick concluded that the land had been inhabited continuously from 12,000 BC in the early Paleo-Indian period through the Archaic and Woodland periods and up to the present.<ref name= stilling>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The earliest written mention of Native Americans in the area is a 1725 map compiled by John Herbert, which identified four Siouan-speaking communities near Drowning Creek—later known as the Lumber River.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Native American/American Indian-descent peopleTemplate:Efn in the Lumber River valley eventually coalesced into a series of farming communities collectively dubbed "Scuffletown" by whites but known by inhabitants as "the Settlement".Template:Sfn The date of Scuffletown's formation is unknownTemplate:Sfn as was its actual location. Some scholars believe it was in the vicinity of the later town of Pembroke while others place it at Moss Neck. Historians Adolph Dial and David K. Eliades believed it was a mobile community. Others still believe the name applied broadly to any concentration of Indians in the area.Template:Sfn

Culturally, the Scuffletonians were similar to other Europeans in their dress and style of homes. They were Protestant Christians and spoke English,Template:Sfn though they spoke an "older form", which set them apart from later settlers.Template:Sfn Not viewed as Native Americans by the state of North Carolina until the 1880s, these people were generally dubbed "mulattos" by locals and in federal documents throughout the mid-1800s to distinguish them from blacks.Template:Sfn The original Scuffletonians were joined by some whites and blacks in the mid-1700s, including some escaping enslavement.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn The earliest written record of white settlement dates from 1747 land deed applications.<ref name= registerofdeeds/>

The area eventually comprising Robeson County was not heavily settled by whites until about ten years before the American Revolution, when Highland Scots moved into the area. They formed a separate community from the Scuffletonians. The immigrants encompassed a range of class distinctions, from literate and aristocratic English-speaking families to poorer Scottish Gaelic-speakers, many of whom were indentured servants. The latter were called "Buckskins" due to their reputation for wearing pants made of deer leather.Template:Sfn Gaelic remained spoken in the area as late as the 1860s.Template:Sfn English and a few French settlers moved into the eastern portion of the eventual county.Template:Sfn

Despite the increase in settlement, population levels in the Lumber River valley remained low for many years, as swamps and thick vegetation divided arable land and made transportation difficult.Template:Sfn The production of timber and naval stores formed a key part of the area's early economy, with logs being floated down the river for sale in Georgetown, South Carolina, in the late 1700s.Template:Sfn During the American Revolutionary War, control over the Lumber River valley was heavily contested by British Loyalists and Patriots.<ref name= smith>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Tensions raised by the war caused some whites to migrate out of the area, moving as far away as Canada.Template:Sfn

Creation

Robeson County was created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1787 out of a western section of Bladen County. It was named for Thomas Robeson, a colonel who had led Patriot forces in the area during the Revolutionary War.Template:Sfn<ref name= smith/>Template:Efn General John Willis, owner of the Red Banks plantation, lobbied to have the county's new seat of government located on his land. The site, to be known as Lumberton, was chosen due to its central location in the county, proximity to a reliable ford of the Lumber River, and as it was where several roads intersected. The first county courthouse was a wooden residence sold by Willis, which was moved into place after the land was cleared.<ref name= lottery/>

Lumberton served as county residents' primary area of commerce for much of the area's early history, as transportation links with major regional cities elsewhere were tenuous.Template:Sfn The 1790 United States census recorded 5,356 county residents.Template:Sfn The county's first U.S. Post Office was established there by 1796.<ref name= lottery>Template:Cite news</ref> That year settlers moved up the Lumber River and established Robeson's second white community, Princess Anne.<ref name= lumberriversp>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Much of the county's geography was not officially understood by surveyors until the early 1800s.<ref name= yeoman/> The county's boundaries were modified and remarked several times between 1788 and 1832.Template:Sfn

Antebellum

Initially, wheat, corn, rice, sugar cane, and potatoes were popular crops among Robesonian farmers. The proliferation of the cotton gin and rising demand for cotton led it to be rapidly adopted,Template:Sfn and Robeson County became one of the state's major cotton-producing counties throughout much of the 1800s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wealthy white planters held the best land in the county, and often outcompeted smallholding Indian and white farmers due to the aid of enslaved labor, creating stark class divisions.Template:Sfn Cotton demand facilitated the growth of slavery and the expansion of plantations. By 1850, the county had a population of 7,290 whites, 4,365 enslaved people, and 1,171 free persons of color.Template:Sfn

In 1835 a new Constitution of North Carolina was ratified, which restricted the ability of "free persons of color" and "free persons of mixed blood" to vote and bear arms.Template:Sfn While having previously enjoyed the same political rights as white people, the new constitution disenfranchised Native Americans.Template:Sfn White farmers in Robeson County also sought ways to obtain Native Americans' land or labor. According to Indian oral tradition, the "tied mule" incidents were emblematic of this. In these scenarios, a farmer would tie his mule to an Indian's land and release some of his cattle there before bringing local authorities to the scene to accuse the Indian landowner of theft. Doubtful of a fair trial in the courts, an Indian would settle with the farmer by offering him a portion of land or free labor.Template:Sfn By the 1860s, many Indians were landless.Template:Sfn The legal discrimination and exploitative practices heightened racial tensions in the area.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 1848, a new county courthouse was constructed to replace the original building.Template:Sfn Lumberton was formally incorporated four years later.Template:Sfn In 1860, the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad was laid through the county as its first railway.Template:Sfn By April 1861, the line reached the town of Shoe Heel—later known as Maxton.Template:Sfn The introduction of the railroad facilitated the creation of new towns in the county.Template:Sfn

Civil War

North Carolina seceded from the United States in 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America to fight in the American Civil War.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Many Indians and Buckskin whites were unenthusiastic about the war;Template:Sfn most local supporters of the Confederate cause were wealthy or well-educated.Template:Sfn Some Indian men enlisted in the Confederate States Army, though it is unknown whether they were accepted as recognized Indians or passed as white.Template:Sfn Major white enslavers were exempted from service, as were those wealthy enough to pay for surrogates to serve in their place.Template:Sfn

In 1863, Confederate authorities began conscripting the Indians and other free persons of color for labor along the coast, especially at Fort Fisher.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Indians were usually tasked to either construct batteries or grind salt. Most found the work dangerous and monotonous, and the conditions at the labor camps were poor. Many consequently fled into the swamps of Robeson County to avoid conscription. Though some Indians still sought to serve in the army during this time, by late 1863, most had concluded that the Confederacy was an oppressive regime. This change in attitudes was brought on by their contact with Union prisoner-of-war escapees from the Florence Stockade, Template:Convert away in South Carolina. Indians became increasingly willing to help the Union soldiers escape and avoid recapture.Template:Sfn

As time progressed, some of the swamp deserters—including Indians, blacks, and Union soldiers—formed bands to raid and steal from area farms, though this was mostly out of a desire to survive and had little to do with challenging the Confederacy.Template:Sfn The Indians' aid to the Union escapees and their attempts to dodge labor conscription drew the attention of the Confederate Home Guard, a paramilitary force tasked with maintaining law and order in the South during the war.Template:Sfn In early March 1865, Union troops led by General William Tecumseh Sherman entered North Carolina.Template:Sfn The Union escapees left to join them, and the bands became predominantly Indian.Template:Sfn Union forces entered Lumberton on March 9, burning two bridges and a depot.Template:Sfn They also foraged off the locals' goods, seizing draft animals, cattle, and crops.Template:Sfn The bulk of Confederate forces surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia shortly thereafter.Template:Sfn On May 15, enslaved people in Robeson were declared emancipated.Template:Sfn

Reconstruction and Lowry War

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1864, during the latter stages of the Civil War, Confederate postmaster James P. Barnes accused some sons of Allen Lowry, a prominent Indian farmer, of stealing two of his hogs and butchering them to feed Union escapees. He ordered the Lowry family to stay off his land under threat of being shot.Template:Sfn In December, Barnes was ambushed and shot as he made his way to work. Shortly before he succumbed to his wounds, he accused William and Henry Berry Lowry, two sons of Allen, of committing the attack.Template:Sfn The following January, Confederate Home Guard officer James Brantly Harris was ambushed and shot following his involvement in the deaths of three Lowrys.Template:Sfn Fearing Harris' death would lead to retaliation from the Home Guard, local Indians began preparing for violence. Short on food and weapons, they started stealing from white-owned farms and plantations.Template:Sfn Supplies intended for the guard were stolen from the courthouse in Lumberton.Template:Sfn

White citizens were infuriated by the decline in law and order, and the Home Guard suspected that the Lowry family was primarily responsible.Template:Sfn On March 3, 1865, a Home Guard detachment arrested Allen Lowry and several others.Template:Sfn Following an impromptu tribunal, the guardsmen executed Allen and his son William for allegedly possessing stolen goods.Template:Sfn The Home Guard was briefly disrupted by the incursion of Sherman's troops several days later but resumed investigating the Lowry family thereafter.Template:Sfn These events initiated the Lowry War,Template:Sfn a conflict which dominated Robeson County throughout the Reconstruction period.Template:Sfn

File:Lowry Gang in the swamp.png

Artist's depiction of the Lowry Gang in a swamp from Harper's Weekly, 1872

The situation in Robeson County briefly calmed with the Union victory, as locals focused on rebuilding their livelihoods.Template:Sfn The region suffered an economic downturn brought on by an agricultural depression and the destruction of the turpentine industry by Union troops.Template:Sfn Some white Robesonians moved down the Lumber River into South Carolina in search of new farmland,Template:Sfn while others moved west. Many black freedmen turned to tenant farming.Template:Sfn Local government in Robeson mostly continued as it had during the war, with rich white men of prominence dominating public offices, especially the justices of the peace who constituted the county court.Template:Sfn The Home Guard was formally dissolved but was replaced by a similar institution, the Police Guard.Template:Sfn

In December, the Police Guard arrested Henry Berry Lowry at his wedding and held him on charges of murdering Barnes.Template:Sfn He shortly thereafter escaped custody and avoided the authorities by hiding in swamps with a group of associates, which became known as the Lowry Gang.Template:Sfn Although a somewhat fluid band at times numbering 20–30 men,Template:Sfn the gang usually operated with six to eight men.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The principle members were primarily relatives of Lowry, though the gang also included two blacks and a poor white.Template:Sfn They usually stayed in improvised shelters in Back Swamp, a ten-mile-long stretch of sparsely-traveled land near Allen Lowry's homestead.Template:Sfn Throughout 1866 and 1867, the gang conducted raids "in retaliation" for previous wrongs inflicted upon them, but no people were killed.Template:Sfn

Following the passage of federal Reconstruction Acts in 1867 and the ratification of a new state constitution in North Carolina in 1868, nonwhites in Robeson, both black freedmen and Indians, were re-enfranchised.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Republican Party won a majority of the vote in elections in Robeson, displacing Conservative planter families who had dominated county affairs.Template:Sfn The party relied on the electoral support of black freedmen, Indians, and poor Buckskin whites.Template:Sfn Republican officials were reluctant to take any action concerning the lawlessness in Robeson since prosecuting former Home Guardsmen for their extrajudicial killings would harm their law and order campaign, while targeting the Lowry Gang would split their local base of support.Template:Sfn Despite this, the new Republican Governor of North Carolina, William Woods Holden issued a declaration of outlawry against Lowry and some of his associates, dividing the local Republican Party and threatening their hold on county politics.Template:Sfn

In an attempt to broker a solution, local Republicans convinced Lowry to surrender himself to be tried in the postwar court system, but he shortly thereafter escaped.Template:Sfn The Lowry Gang then killed Reuben King, the former sheriff of the county, during a robbery in January 1869,Template:Sfn ending all attempts by Reconstruction authorities to negotiate a settlement.Template:Sfn The gang continued its raids. As a result federal troops were dispatched to assist the local authorities.<ref name= Mitchell>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In February 1872, the Lowry Gang committed their largest heist, stealing two safes from downtown Lumberton. Shortly thereafter, Henry Berry Lowry disappeared.Template:Sfn Over the next two years, bounty hunters tracked down the remaining gang members, and the war ended when the last active one was killed in February 1874.Template:Sfn

End of Reconstruction and establishment of racial segregation

File:Croatan Normal School in Pates.jpg

The first Croatan Normal School building in Pates

Dissatisfied with the 1868 Reconstruction constitution, Conservatives/DemocratsTemplate:Efn pushed for a convention to be held in 1875 to revise the document. Elections to determine the delegates to attend were held in August. Early returns indicated that a Republican-majority convention was likely, and the final results from Robeson County were, depending on the outcome, likely to provide either party with their majority. The Democratic state chair telegrammed the local Democrat-dominated elections board, writing, "As you love the state, hold Robeson."<ref name= faulkner>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The board then voted to certify the elections without counting results from four Republican-majority precincts, giving the county's two Democratic delegate candidates a slim margin of victory. With their narrow majority at the convention, the Democrats reversed many of the reforms instituted in the 1868 constitution, making it harder for Republicans and blacks to hold office.<ref name= faulkner/>

With Reconstruction thus ended, Democrats reasserted their dominance over politics in the South, but Republicans remained competitive in North Carolina, and the Indian population in Robeson continued to support them.Template:Sfn Though Republicans still made up the majority of registered voters in Robeson, disagreements caused by the Lowry War prevented them from solidifying local control.Template:Sfn The Indians also resisted being treated the same as blacks under the new socio-political hierarchy, who were relegated to a subordinate position.Template:Sfn Hamilton McMillan, a Robesonian member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and a Democrat, sought to switch the Indians' allegiance to solidify his party's control over the state.Template:Sfn He convinced the General Assembly to formally recognize the Indians as "Croatoans"—arguing that they descended from English settlers of the Lost Colony who mixed with Croatan Indians.Template:Sfn

In 1887, McMillan convinced the legislature to appropriate money to establish a Croatan Normal School to train teachers who could staff new Indian schools. As a result, most Robeson Indians began to vote for Democrats, and their voting rights were preserved when blacks were disenfranchised by constitutional amendment in 1900.Template:Sfn This distinction birthed a system of tripartite segregation which was unique in the American South. However, whites generally regarded both the Indians and blacks as "colored".<ref name= coffey>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Indians and blacks nevertheless maintained separate identities.Template:Sfn Some other county facilities were separated for "Whites", "Negroes", and "Indians",Template:Sfn including the courthouse in Lumberton.Template:Sfn Under this racial hierarchy, whites constituted the dominant racial caste, and blacks were socially subordinated, while the Indians formed a middle caste and, though retaining more privileges than blacks, were still subject to discrimination.Template:Sfn

The county's second rail line was established in 1884 by the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railway, connecting Lumber Bridge, Red Springs, and Maxton.Template:Sfn In 1892, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad built a north–south line through the county, intersecting with the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad at the site of Campbell's Mill. A train station was subsequently built, and a strong trading community was established.Template:Sfn It was incorporated in 1895 as the town of Pembroke, and in 1909, the Croatan Normal School was moved there from its original location in Pates.Template:Sfn Pembroke became a center for Indian commercial activity.Template:Sfn Due to the Indians' predominance in the community, the town lacked strict adherence to many Jim Crow norms common in the rest of the county and the wider South in the early-to-mid 20th century.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn St. Pauls and Red Springs developed as white-majority towns hostile to nonwhites, while the towns of Fairmont and Rowland retained significant black labor forces.Template:Sfn In 1913 the General Assembly reclassified the Indians as Cherokees.Template:Sfn

Economic development and Great Depression

File:Taking tobacco to market in Fairmont.jpg

Farmers taking tobacco to market in Fairmont in the early 1900s

Following the stagnation of cotton prices in the 1890s, farmers in Robeson County began rapidly adopting tobacco as a regular crop.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Many tobacco warehouses were built, and the town of Fairmont became the county's primary market town for the crop.Template:Sfn Significant tobacco markets were also established in Rowland and Lumberton.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The county's first cotton mill opened in 1897,Template:Sfn and St. Pauls subsequently developed as the county's primary textile center.Template:Sfn In the early 1900s, farmers organized a trade association and convinced the county government to appoint a local commissioner for agriculture.Template:Sfn

In 1909, Robeson County's third courthouse was constructed.Template:Sfn Two years later a portion of the county was split off and combined with a section of Cumberland County to form Hoke County.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bouts of typhoid, hookworm, smallpox, and a high infant mortality rate led Robeson's government to organize the first county-level public health department in the United States in 1912.Template:Sfn Following the passage of a state drainage law in 1909, many swamps in the county were drained to increase usable farmland, improve transportation,<ref name= wetmore>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name= dreilinger/> and reduce malaria cases.Template:Sfn Work on the drainage of the nearly 22,000-acre Back Swamp was completed in 1918.Template:Sfn Most major roads in the county were paved with state support between the 1920s and 1947.Template:Sfn In 1929, Robeson became the first county in the United States to appoint a county manager.Template:Sfn

Like the rest of the country, local agriculture suffered throughout the 1920s following World War I due to decreased demand and limited crop market opportunities.Template:Sfn The Great Depression led to a severe decline in tobacco prices.Template:Sfn Area farmers responded by increasing their output, but the expanded agricultural supply only lowered crop prices.Template:Sfn Robesonians dubbed the time period the "Hoover Days".Template:Sfn In response to the downturn, in 1936, the federal government created Pembroke Farms, a resettlement community for struggling Indian farmers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1938, the government offered loans for the establishment of a second project, the Red Banks Mutual Association.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The association served as a cooperative with multiple Indian households farming common land from which profits would be attained and then divided among the members.Template:Sfn Neither project proved successful, and by the 1940s, both faced neglect from the government, though the mutual association persisted into the 1960s before it finally collapsed.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Civil rights and desegregation

Hundreds of Indians from Robeson County fought for the United States during World War II in white units (blacks were segregated into different outfits). Many returned with a willingness to pursue social change.Template:Sfn Some of them, especially the war veterans, disliked Robeson County's segregation.Template:Sfn In 1945, a group of Indians petitioned the governor to support the restoration of an elected municipal government in Pembroke, which had been swapped for an appointive system in 1917 at the behest of the community's white minority. In 1947, the town returned to an elected government, and Pembroke chose its first Indian mayor.Template:Sfn Other Indian leaders lobbied to adopt a unique name to identify their group.Template:Sfn

In 1952, the name Lumbee, inspired by the Lumbee/Lumber River, was approved by the Indians in a referendum, and the following year, the General Assembly formally recognized the label.Template:Sfn In 1956, the United States Congress formally extended partial recognition to the Lumbee Tribe, affirming their existence as an Indigenous community but disallowing them from the use of federal funds and services available to other Native American groups.Template:Sfn Other Indians rejected the Lumbee designation and identified themselves as Tuscarora—stressing a connection to the Tuscarora people who had populated North Carolina in the 1700s—intending to secure a better chance at full federal recognition.Template:Sfn

File:White men and Robeson County indians (Lumbee Indians) in fight-armed skirmish (State's Exhibit No.6). Photo taken by Bill Shaw, Fayetteville Observer newspaper photographer. Photo used as state's (8224422682).jpg

Lumbee Indians fighting Ku Klux Klansmen during the Battle of Hayes Pond, 1958

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The ruling sparked a significant amount of pro-segregation activity among whites in the South, including a resurgence in white supremacist Ku Klux Klan (KKK) activity.Template:Sfn Klan activity and violence increased in Robeson in the early 1950s before being suppressed under pressure from the district solicitor and the federal government.Template:Sfn<ref name="Jacobs">Template:Cite news</ref>

In early 1958, Klan leader James W. "Catfish" Cole of South Carolina attempted to revive the Klan in Robeson County.Template:Sfn His group burned crosses in St. Pauls and Lumberton to intimidate the Lumbee community before advertising a rally to be held at Hayes Pond, near Maxton.<ref name="Jacobs"/> The rally was held on the evening of January 18, attended by about 50 Klansmen—most not from the county, and joined by several hundred armed Lumbees.<ref name="coffey" /><ref name="Jacobs"/> The Lumbees opened fire, inflicting minor injuries and causing the Klansmen to disperse. The event, dubbed by the press as the "Battle of Hayes Pond", garnered national media attention and led Klan activity against the Lumbees to cease.<ref name= coffey/>

Pembroke State College, formerly the Croatan Normal School, was racially integrated in the 1950s and 1960s.Template:Sfn After 1965, the rate of black and Native American voter registration substantially increased. By 1968, black and Native voters outnumbered whites.Template:Sfn In 1970, the federal government ordered the county school board to integrate its institutions. The board responded by dissolving special Native American districts and consolidating Native students with black and white schools. This did not affect most white students in the county, who were largely served by independent municipal school districts.Template:Sfn Feeling a loss of control over their traditional schools, many Lumbees and Tuscaroras protested integration and resisted the assignment of black staff and white and black students to their institutions.Template:Sfn

In early 1973, dozens of buildings in the county, most of them owned by whites, were set ablaze. In March, Old Main, a historic building on Pembroke State's campus, which had symbolic importance to the Native American community, was burned.Template:Sfn In 1974, a federal court ruled that the "double voting" system used by the county school board, whereby both county residents and municipal residents could vote for board members—despite the latter not being served by the county school system, was unconstitutional.Template:Sfn Following a bitter 1986 referendum which received national attention,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the municipal systems were merged with the county system in 1988.<ref name= nagemracism>Template:Cite news</ref>

Pembroke State College was elevated to university in 1971 and was grouped under the University of North Carolina System the following year.<ref name= fletcher>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1974 the county courthouse was demolished.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was replaced with a new structure in 1976.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn

Drug trafficking and economic stagnation

Robeson County became one of the top moonshine-producing counties in North Carolina in the 20th century. The prevalence of poverty enticed many Robesonians to sell moonshine to supplement their incomes, and the large number of isolated swamps and woods offered many places where stills could be concealed.Template:Sfn Many Lumbees and Tuscaroras produced moonshine into the 1970s.Template:Sfn The trade of marijuana eventually supplanted moonshine before being overtaken by cocaine trafficking in the 1980s, which was enabled by the county's midway location between Miami and New York City along Interstate 95.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The drug trade was fueled by worsening economic prospects in the region which began with the 1970s energy crisis and increased living costs.Template:Sfn

By the mid-1980s, local agriculture was in decline.Template:Sfn Reliance upon mechanized agriculture and the consolidation of smallholding farms into larger corporate operations led to the loss of work for many farmers and their laborers.Template:Sfn Newer manufacturing jobs did not provide residents sufficient employment and stability to make up for the shift. Over a quarter of county residents lived below the poverty threshold, over half of adults over the age of 25 lacked a high school diploma, and the local unemployment rate was higher than the state average.Template:Sfn

Native Americans and blacks suffered disproportionately from the lack of prosperity, and many Native Americans partook in the drug trade.Template:Sfn Narcotics-related activities led to murders and stoked social unrest, political tensions, and police corruption.Template:Sfn Robeson's homicide rate grew to four times worse than the national averageTemplate:Sfn and the county had the highest numbers of drug-related arrests in the state in 1985 and 1986.Template:Sfn In February 1988, two Tuscaroras held the staff of the county newspaper, The Robesonian, hostage to protest local corruption.Template:Sfn In March, Lumbee judicial candidate Julian Pierce was murdered under disputed circumstances, and the father of basketball player Michael Jordan was murdered in Robeson in 1993.<ref name= nagemoccupied/> The county's reputation among North Carolinians suffered due to these events.Template:Sfn<ref name= martin>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name= nagemoccupied>Template:Cite news</ref> Political action motivated by discontent led to an increasing number of blacks and Native Americans to run for office.Template:Sfn In 2002, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation opened an inquiry into corruption allegations in the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. Their subsequent Operation Tarnished Badge became the largest police corruption investigation in state history and led to 22 officers, including the sheriff, being convicted for various crimes.<ref name= rockett>Template:Cite news</ref>

Deindustrialization and hurricanes

File:I-95 flooding in Lumberton, 2016.png

Flooding in Lumberton from Hurricane Matthew, 2016

Following the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1992, Robeson County lost thousands of manufacturing jobs, followed shortly by a knock-on loss of employment in other sectors.<ref name= yeoman/>Template:Sfn Deindustrialization coupled with the decline in the tobacco industry prompted by the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004 caused deep economic and social damage, with increasing underemployment, rising poverty, growing welfare dependency, and an increase in certain types of crimes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn Economic development thereafter increasingly focused on the supply of fossil fuels, poultry farming, biogas and biomass facilities, and logging.Template:Sfn The Latino population also increased as Mexican immigrants—many of them undocumented—supplanted black agricultural workers.Template:Sfn

In 2016, the county was impacted by Hurricane Matthew, leading to record flooding in Lumberton. In 2018, the county was struck by Hurricane Florence, which broke the record.<ref name= dreilinger/> The storms heavily damaged thousands of residences throughout the county, and entire streets in south and west Lumberton were left abandoned.Template:Sfn The destruction of significant affordable housing accelerated a population decline in the county, which had begun in 2013.Template:Sfn Falling student enrollments in the county school system and declining state education subsidies led the county school board to close nine schools in 2019.Template:Sfn During the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump held a rally in Robeson County, marking the first time a sitting president had ever held a formal appearance there.<ref name= samuels/>

Geography and physical features

File:Hayes Pond 3 (Shoe Heel Creek).jpg

Shoe Heel Creek, south of Maxton

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (0.21%) is water.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name= censusprofile>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is the largest county in North Carolina by area.<ref name= censusprofile/>Template:Sfn Owing to its large size, the county was historically sometimes referred to informally as the "State of Robeson".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is bordered by the North Carolina counties of Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Hoke, and Scotland,Template:Sfn and the South Carolina counties of Dillon, Horry, and Marlboro.<ref name= censusprofile/>

Robeson is located in the state's Coastal Plain region<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and is one of the state's ten counties within the Sandhills region, characterized by sandy and fertile soil.<ref name= augillard>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It hosts 11 major soil types, mostly sandy loams.Template:Sfn It has a temperate climate and rarely experiences snowfall.Template:Sfn The county hosts many pocosins,Template:Sfn bald cypress forests,<ref name= yeoman>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Carolina bays, creeks<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (including Shoe Heel and Big Shoe HeelTemplate:Sfn), and 50 swamps.<ref name= dreilinger>Template:Cite news</ref> The swamps feed into the Lumber River, which flows eastward from the northwest corner of the county to the southeast corner.Template:Sfn Portions of the Lumber River State Park are located in Robeson,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as is the entirety of the Warwick Mill Bay State Natural Area.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The two state game lands in the county are Bullard and Branch Hunting Preserve and Robeson Game Land.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Most of Robeson County lies within the Lumber River basin.Template:Sfn The river and its banks support many flora and fauna. Resident mammals include deer, raccoons, muskrats, beavers, minks, and otters. The river also supports wild turkeys and several varieties of ducks. Local fish include catfish, robin, perch, pike, bluegill bream, jack, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass,<ref name= aboutriver/> black crappie, and redbreast sunfish.Template:Sfn Reptilian life includes copperhead snakes and some water snakes including cottonmouths.<ref name= aboutriver>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Robeson County is also one of the westernmost regular habitats in the state for American alligators.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Plant life supported by the river includes bald cypress, gum, poplar, loblolly-bay, and juniper trees. Ferns, Virginia creeper, Spanish moss, pitcher plants, and Venus flytraps also reside along the river and its tributaries.<ref name= aboutriver/>

Demographics

2020 census

File:Robeson race 2020.svg

A map of census tracts in Robeson county by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census Template:Collapsible list

As of the 2020 census, there were 116,530 people residing in the county.<ref name= censusprofile/> Lumberton was the most populous community, with 19,025 residents. About 51 percent of county residents were women.<ref name=johnsonpopulation/> Racially, 30,041 identified as white, 26,424 identified as black or African American, 44,871 identified as American Indian, 908 identified as Asian, and 79 identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 8,192 identified as other, and 6,015 identified as two or more races.<ref name=2020censusrace>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Of the total among the races, 11,757 people identified as Hispanic or Latino.<ref name= 2020censushispanic>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The county was approximately 38 percent Native American, 22 percent white, 22 percent black, and 10 percent Hispanic.<ref name=johnsonpopulation/> It is a majority-minority county<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and proportionately has the largest Native American population of any North Carolina county<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the smallest white population.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Robeson County is included in the Fayetteville-Lumberton-Pinehurst, NC Combined Statistical Area.<ref name="2023OMB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Demographic change

Historical population Template:US Census population

Robeson County had a loss of 17,638 people between 2010 and 2020,<ref name=johnsonpopulation/> a decline of 13.1 percent,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the largest numerical decline among North Carolina's counties.<ref name=johnsonpopulation>Template:Cite news</ref> Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, the white demographic experienced the largest decrease in size, while Hispanics and people who identify as two or more races experienced the most significant increases.<ref name= nagemracism/> The proportion of county residents under the age of 18 dropped by 22 percent.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The North Carolina Rural Center reported a 0.91 percent increase in the county's population between 2020 and 2023.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Law and government

Government

File:Robeson County Administration Center (May 2023) 3.jpg

Robeson County Administration Center in Lumberton

File:Robeson County Commissioners Building (May 2023) (cropped).jpg

Robeson County Commissioners Building in Lumberton

Robeson County is run by a commission–manager government. The county commission comprises eight members elected from single-member districts in four-year staggered terms. Presided over by a chair elected by the commissioners from among their members for one year, the commission has legislative and policy-making authority over county government. The commissioners appoint a county manager with executive authority over county administration and implement the commission's decisions. The manager appoints directors of county government departments.Template:Sfn The county government supplies emergency services, social services, public health services, recreation, and economic development in its jurisdiction. It also maintains a water system and landfill.Template:Sfn A local property tax funds the county government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Several county departments are headquartered in the Robeson County Administration Center in Lumberton.<ref name= horneRCAC>Template:Cite news</ref>

Robeson County is a member of the Lumber River Council of Governments, a regional planning board representing five counties.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The county also has a Soil and Water Conservation District led by an elected supervisor.<ref name= jacobsetal/> Robeson County is located in North Carolina's 7th congressional district,<ref name= Nagem1/> the North Carolina Senate's 24th district, and the North Carolina House of Representatives' 46th and 47th district.<ref name= jacobsetal>Template:Cite news</ref> Robeson is one of the four counties within the jurisdiction of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Tribal members within the county elect some members of the tribal council.Template:Sfn Its headquarters is in Pembroke.<ref name= martin/>

Law enforcement and judicial system

Robeson County lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 20th Prosecutorial District, the 16B Superior Court District, and the 16B District Court District.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> County residents elect a county sheriff, clerk of Superior Court, and district attorney.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Judicial officials work out of the Robeson County Courthouse in Lumberton.<ref name= horneRCAC/> Law enforcement is provided across the county by the sheriff's office, while the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and the towns of Lumberton, St. Pauls, Maxton, Red Springs, Rowland, Pembroke, and Fairmont retain police departments.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to an October 2021 report issued by the State Bureau of Investigation, in 2020 Robeson experienced the highest violent crime rate of the state's counties at 1,190 incidents per 100,000 people, and the third-worst overall crime rate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Politics

File:State Capitol Protest in Raleigh (2020 Nov) (50603498261).jpg

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won Robeson County in 2016, 2020, and 2024 with the support of many Lumbees.

Historical presidential election returns Template:PresHead

Politically, Robeson County has historically been dominated by the Democratic Party. A majority of Robesonians voted for Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon in 1972, but then voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the next nine elections.<ref name= harrison>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The local Republican Party grew in the early 21st century, fueled by prevailing religious conservatism in the county and discontent with the loss of manufacturing jobs. Many of the Democrats who remained with their party were conservative.<ref name= samuels>Template:Cite news</ref>

Democrats continued to win state and local races by large margins in the 2000s but their margins of victory in presidential and congressional races decreased. In 2016 and 2020, county voters favored Republican Donald Trump, who won over majorities of white and Lumbee voters by championing socially conservative issues, criticizing free trade agreements, and declaring his support for full federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe.<ref name= kruse>Template:Cite news</ref> The area also began increasingly voting for Republican state and local candidates,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with Robesonians in 2016 electing their first Republican state senator since Reconstruction.<ref name= kruse/> In 2020, Republicans won most races in the county.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

As of April 2022, Robeson hosts about 70,400 registered voters, comprising about 36,500 registered Democrats, 12,300 registered Republicans and 21,300 unaffiliated.<ref name= Nagem1>Template:Cite news</ref> Trump won the county again in 2024,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> this time with an even harder swing. Indeed, Robeson County shifted further to the right in 2024 than any North Carolina county, and Trump's 63% was higher than any Republican has ever gotten in Robeson County.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> With an estimated voter turnout rate of 59 percent, the county had the lowest turnout of any county in the state in the 2024 elections.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Economy

File:Cotton field outside of Rex.jpg

A cotton field near Rex

Robeson County largely relied on the textile and tobacco industries throughout the 20th century.<ref name= barkin/> Agriculture predominated in employment in 1960, and the county earned the second-highest agriculture-related revenue among all Southern counties, though its per-capita income remained low. By 1970, agriculture had been overtaken by manufacturing, and the completion of Interstate 95 within several years accelerated industrialization. By 1990, fewer than 2,300 Robesonians worked in agriculture, and manufacturing accounted for a third of the county's employment.<ref name= martin/>

The tobacco and manufacturing sectors rapidly declined in the 1990s and 2000s, with manufacturing especially adversely impacted by several national free trade agreements.<ref name= barkin>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name= martin/> The Robeson County Office of Economic Development determined that the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement led to the closure of 32 manufacturing facilities and the loss of over 6,000 jobs between 1995 and 2005.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 1997 to 2007, the county lost 22,860 acres in farmland.Template:Sfn

Tobacco is still grown in the county, as are corn, soybeans, sorghum, peanuts, and cotton.Template:Sfn Some local landowners raise pine trees and sell them as timber.<ref name= dreilinger/> Poultry farming has rapidly increased since the 1990s,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> making the county the state's fifth-largest poultry producer in 2023.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In recent years commercial activity has grown along the Interstate 95 corridor,Template:Sfn Chicken processing, pork processing, and the pellet fuel industry have supplanted much of the former textile industry.<ref name= dreilinger/> The significant presence of such high-pollution industries in the county has led some residents to describe the area as a sacrifice zone.<ref name= yeoman/>

Health care/social assistance, manufacturing, retail, education, and accommodation/food service are the largest-employing sectors in Robeson County.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2022, the median household income was $38,610.<ref name="2020CensusQuickFacts"/> In 2023, 28 percent of local residents were impoverished, making Robeson one of the poorest counties in the state.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In its 2024 county economic tier ratings, the North Carolina Department of Commerce classified Robeson as tied with two other counties for the third-most economically distressed county in the state.<ref name= skinner>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Transportation

Template:Maplink Robeson County is served by Interstate 95, which travels north–south through the county; and Interstate 74 (incomplete),<ref name="NAHW">Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which travels east–west. The two routes intersect to the southwest of Lumberton.<ref name= barkin/> It is also served by U.S. Route 74 (Alt.) (Bus.),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> US 301, US 501, and North Carolina Highways 20, 41, 71,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 72, 83, 130 (Bus.),<ref>Template:Cite map</ref><ref name="1965change">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 211, 295 (to become I-295),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 710, 711, and 904.<ref name= stats>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> County government supports a public transport bus service, the South East Area Transit System.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Airplane facilities are provided by the Lumberton Municipal Airport in Lumberton.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Laurinburg–Maxton Airport, situated in Scotland County near the border with Robeson, serves both the Scotland city of Laurinburg and the Robeson town of Maxton.Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Railroads in Robeson County are operated by CSX Transportation.Template:Sfn The longest straight stretch of railroad track in the United States, spanning 78.86 miles, passes through Robeson.Template:Sfn

Education

File:W.H. Knuckles Elementary School (May 2023) 2 (cropped).jpg

W.H. Knuckles Elementary School in Lumberton

The Public Schools of Robeson County (PSRC) operates public schools,Template:Sfn with its jurisdiction being the entire county.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} - Text list</ref> As of 2022, the system operates 36 schools and serves about 23,000 students.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The state classifies the PSRC as a low-performing district.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The county hosts two post-secondary institutions: the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Robeson Community College.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Additionally, the PSRC supports the Robeson Planetarium.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The county government runs seven libraries.Template:Sfn A county history museum is located in Lumberton.Template:Sfn According to the 2022 American Community Survey, an estimated 16.4 percent of county residents have attained a bachelor's degree or higher level of education.<ref name= censusprofile/>

Healthcare

Robeson County is served by a single hospital, UNC Health Southeastern, based in Lumberton.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Robeson Health Care Corporation also provides medical care to residents through various clinics.<ref name= nagemopiod>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to the 2022 County Health Rankings produced by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Robeson County had the worst health outcomes of all of North Carolina's counties. Per the ranking, 32 percent of adults say they are in poor or fair health, the average life expectancy is 72 years—six years lower than the state average, and 19 percent of people under the age of 65 lack health insurance.<ref name=nagemhealth>Template:Cite news</ref> The county has been heavily impacted by the opioid epidemic,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in 2021 suffered from the highest fatal opioid overdose rate among North Carolina's counties.<ref name= nagemopiod/>

Culture

Robeson is pronounced by local residents as "RAH-bih-sun"Template:Sfn or "ROB-uh-son".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Outsiders sometimes pronounce it as "ROW-bih-sun".Template:Sfn In line with the predominantly tri-ethnic nature of the county, whites, blacks, and Native Americans generally operate as three different sociocultural entities.Template:Sfn Members of each group generally express dialectal differences in their speech.Template:Sfn

The collard sandwich—consisting of fried cornbread, collard greens, and fatback—is a popular dish among the Lumbee people in the county.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Numerous small communities in the county are culturally insular owing to their lack of contact with people from outside the county.Template:Sfn Most towns host their own annual festivals.Template:Sfn The Lumbee Homecoming, a festival for Lumbee tribal members, is held annually in late June and early July and often brings thousands of Lumbees as well as tourists to the county.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Fishing and hunting have long been popular activities in the county, both as means of acquiring food and as sports.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Carolina boat—a style of skiff of marine plywood construction—originated in the county.Template:Sfn Many in the county are religious, and religion is a key part of local public life.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn Several area buildings and sites have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Communities

File:Map of Robeson County North Carolina With Municipal and Township Labels.PNG

Map of Robeson County with municipal and township labels

Incorporated communities

• Lumberton (county seat and largest community)<ref name=johnsonpopulation/>
• FairmontTemplate:Sfn
• Lumber BridgeTemplate:Sfn
• MariettaTemplate:Sfn
• MaxtonTemplate:Sfn
• McDonaldTemplate:Sfn
• OrrumTemplate:Sfn
• ParktonTemplate:Sfn
• PembrokeTemplate:Sfn
• ProctorvilleTemplate:Sfn
• RaynhamTemplate:Sfn
• Red SpringsTemplate:Sfn
• RennertTemplate:Sfn
• RowlandTemplate:Sfn
• St. PaulsTemplate:Sfn

Townships

Robeson County townships include:Template:Sfn Template:Div col

• Alfordsville
• Back Swamp
• Barnesville
• Britts
• Burnt Swamp
• East Howellsville
• Gaddy
• Parkton
• Philadelphus
• Raft Swamp
• Rennert
• Saddletree
• Shannon
• Smiths
• Smyrna
• Sterlings
• Thompson
• Tolarsville
• Union
• West Howellsville
• Whitehouse
• Wishart

Census-designated places

• Barker Ten Mile<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Elrod<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Prospect<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Raemon<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Rex<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Shannon<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Wakulla<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Unincorporated communities

• Barnesville<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Five Forks<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Red BanksTemplate:Sfn
• Moss NeckTemplate:Sfn
• PatesTemplate:Sfn

See also

• List of counties in North Carolina

Works cited

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Further reading

• Glatthaar, Joseph T. The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns. New York: New York University Press, 1985.
• Hauptman, Lawrence M. "River Pilots and Swamp Guerillas: Pamunkee and Lumbee Unionists." In Between Two Fires: American Indians in the Civil War. New York: Free Press, 1995.
• McKinnon, Henry A. Jr. Historical Sketches of Robeson County. N.P.: Historic Robeson, Inc., 2001.

External links

• Template:Osmrelation
• Template:Official website
• NCGenWeb Robeson County, genealogy resources for the county