Sampson County

Known throughout the state for its turpentine and tar industry, helping the state to earn its nickname, ‘ the Tar Heel State,’ Sampson County is the

quintessential North Carolina county, a combination of beautiful rural landscapes, charming small towns, and hard-working people of all walks of life. This coastal plains county, still dominated by its agricultural economic base of cotton and tobacco, has evolved from an early, rowdy pioneer character into one shaped by the early Baptist and Presbyterian preachers and Methodist circuit riders who infused religion into the county’‘s identity.

This volume, with many images published here for the first time, will take you on an incredible visual journey through Sampson County’‘s past, from the Civil

War to the mid-twentieth century. A collection of unique and vivid photographs, Sampson County allows you to experience firsthand the wide array of life

throughout the area and explore Sampson County’‘s fascinating history, showing scenes of early rural life; views of men cutting down long-leaf pines, laboring in the tar and turpentine companies around the county, and working in the early businesses of Clinton, Hobbton, and other villages; images of turn-of-thecentury homes, churches, and one-room schoolhouses that dotted this expansive landscape; pictures of early courthouses in Clinton; and most importantly, portraits of the people and families who lived, worked, and played here, from local

community leaders to everyday citizens.