Volume IX
Number 28
THE ST AT E December 13
1941
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Rnl*r*4
»•
r. June 1. 1933. at »h*
Го-Юве.
al BaUlCh. N«nh Carolina, under th. An ot Mareh 3. 1*79
Duplin
County
It lias tin* lai ”«‘si straw¬
berry iniirket in the
world, largest tuberose
bull» market in the
world and many other
points of interest within
its boundaries.
Duplin County’s courthouse, located at Kennnsville.
WHKKl.KK’S HISTORY
«.чу*
:
“Dnplin (Vni nty "’a* formed n«
early ns
1741»
from tin- iipjier
part of Now Hfinovor County. Its
curly .settlers were Irish ami t lit* mime
reminded them of Dublin, t heir nn-
eient capital,"
Wheeler wjih eorreet, so fur as tell¬
ing where tho early settlers came from,
but he was wrong about the name.
Duplin has nothing to do with Dub¬
lin; it was named for Lord Duplin, a
British nobleman.
We spent last Thursday down in
that part of the stale and. in company
with A. T. Outlaw, register of deeds,
and F. W. Met iowan. county auditor,
traveled over the greater part of the
county. Mr. Outlaw knows as much, if
not more, about the history of Duplin
ns docs anyone else, 11 ml Mr. McGowan
isn’t .so very far behind.
It’s a big county and, during the
course <»f our travels, we went from
Hell to Purgatory and hack again and
visited a number of other places as
well. Hell's Swamp i« located in the
eastern part of . . . and Pur¬
gatory is almiif live miles distant.
Snatchit i.« half-way between the two.
Snatchit had ii- name ehniiged a num¬
ber of years ago. however, and i« now
known as Beulavillc.
Mr. Outlaw and Mr. McGowan told
us ninny interesting things about dif¬
ferent places in the county but they
fell down dismally in the answers to
two questions which we pul up to
1 hem.
They didn't know how Calypso got
its name, ami they didn’t know how
Botancus got it- name, either. After
we left them, late in the afternoon, we
went l»ack to Calypso ami accosted an
elderly gentleman in the store on the
corner.
“How,” we asked him, “did Calypso
get its name V
The elderly gentleman didn't even
hesitate. “As I recall,” he told US,
“it was given that designation hv a
man named Walter Hand. < ’alvpso was
a sea nymph, mentioned in the Odys¬
sey. who kepi Ody-Scils 'even years
on her island. Ogygia.”
Kducutod old elmp, wasn't he?
We took il all down verv enrefullv
-O that We'd U- able
ю
relay the infor¬
mation to Mr. Outlaw ami Mr. Mc¬
Gowan at the verv lir«t opportunity*.
‘•And now.” we *,ked the same
ehierlr gentleman. “Botancus, plea-e”
“How's that f lie wanted to Itoow.
“How did Itotanriis gel its name?"
“Botancus? l-et . . x\ Botancus.
. . . Hey. Bill, bow did Botawena p
its name?”
“1 don't know. . . . I ley, Joe, how
did Botitliclls gel it> name?"
“I don't know. . . . Hey
1 1 sounded like n .lack Denny pro¬
gram. When we left there, they wore
still making inquiries about Hotuneus.
If anybody ever answered the question
correctly, we'd appreciate getting the
information. Somehow or other, we’re
never going to lie -nti-lied until We
get the true fact* nlxoit Itot uncus.
It>.\.\.\svu.i.i i- the oldest town in the
county. It wasn't the original settle¬
ment. however. The lir«t place where
the early citizen* built a little com¬
munity was n! Sereda, some seven
miles distant from Kenan-ville. \nd
although Konim-ville i« now the
county seat of Dnp’iu, ii didn't a I way -
enjoy this ilistiueliou,
The lir«t courts were held nl Miller's
Bridge in William McKee'» hoi.se.
That wa« in tin' extreme eastern part
of the county and, when voii take into
consideration tl e fuel that San
was part of Duplin in tint period
von chi re'iililv -14' th'il I In- Inc- ilion
was somewhat inconvenient. S.. after
four or five year», the count v -eat wa*
mov,»| ...
„
place near Baltic Station,
not far from Warsaw. When Sainiwon
County acceded. it wa* decided to move
Duplin's countv seat further east, and
that's when Keiian-ville iui. -elected.
1 he present structure i« the third
1