INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT OF
PENDER COUNTY
Pender County's attractive and modem courthouse at Burgaw.
в I/
mrs. sum: p. miller
Agriculture, lumbering,
fishing, manufacturing on
i a small scale and work in
defense industries at nearby
Camp Davis and Wilmington,
make up the chief sources of in¬
come of Pender County’s resi¬
dents. The county’s diversified
agricultural interests range from
the largest blueberry farms in
the state in its western sandhill
section around Currie, Montague
and Atkinson, to peanut-growing
in the sands of Topsail township,
where the county borders the At¬
lantic Ocean.
J. A. Murphy of Atkinson, pres¬
ident of the North Carolina Blue¬
berry Association, estimates that
there arc around 500 acres of
blueberries in Pender. Last year
the association shipped 30,000 12-
pint crates. Last year and again
this year, these berries sold whole¬
sale on the luxury markets in
northern cities for 50c, 55c and 60c
a pint. This year the association
expects to ship 50,000 crates.
In previous years the berries
were shipped from Atkinson, but
this year the North Carolina Blue¬
berry Association is using Burgaw
as shipping headquarters for both
Pender and Duplin counties. Mrs.
H. L. Pippin, of Magnolia, is
secretary of the Association: Sam
H. Ingram of Burgaw and D. F.
Weir of Hampstead, are among
the directors.
The New Jersey Blueberry As¬
sociation also ships from Pender,
their berries going out by truck.
Truck crops, strawberries,
beans, cucumbers, limas. lettuce,
squash, beets are grown exten¬
sively in the area around Burgaw,
St. Helena, and at Rocky Point.
A produce auction market for
these fruits and vegetables has
been maintained at Burgaw for
the past ten years. The leading
local men in the auction market
are J. A. Murphy, J. T. Harrell
and S. V. Bowen.
Approximately 3,000 acres of
peanuts are grown in the county
each year, giving the county a
large acreage for this section of
the state. At Hampstead J. F.
Howard operates a peanut fac¬
tory, processing peanuts from
Pender and other counties. Mr.
Howard also handles fish caught
from Topsail Sound at his Hamp¬
stead factory. There are other
wholesale fish dealers at Hamp¬
stead also, J. H. Lea being one of
the leading dealers.
The Coastal Plains Experiment
Station at Willard comprises 293
acres, and is operated by the
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