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Duplin
County Partnership for Children
About
The
General Assembly in New Bern created Duplin County from the northern part of
New Hanover County on April 7, 1750. At that time the bounds of Duplin County
included what was to become Sampson County. The county was named for Sir Thomas
Hays, Lord Dupplin, who served on the Board of Trade and Plantations for the
Crown in the 1740's. The earliest immigrants to the area were the Welsh from
New Castle on Delaware arriving in the early 1700's. They were soon followed by
German Palatines and Swiss in the 1730's and 1740's who were from settlements
in New Bern. The Scotch-Irish arrived in 1736 from Ulster, Northern Ireland
with Henry McCulloch; a wealthy London merchant, to settle on a rich and
fertile 71,160-acre land granted to him from the British Crown. The early
settlements were primarily along the river and larger creeks as these were the
best means of transportation in the early beginnings of the county. McCulloch
established the first town, Sarecta, incorporated in 1787. The first industry
in the county was the navel stores industry followed by the main industry
throughout the years, agriculture. The completion of the Wilmington and Weldon
Railroad in 1840, gave rise to such towns as Wallace, Teachey, Rose Hill,
Magnolia, Warsaw, Faison, and Calypso. Duplin County has maintained its
agricultural heritage and rural environment through the years while still
allowing for a blending with industrial development, economic growth and an
enviable lifestyle.
Duplin
County is located in the Southeastern Coastal Plain of North Carolina and is
the 9th largest county in the state with 819 square miles of prime agricultural
land. Duplin is bounded by Wayne County to the north; Lenoir, Jones, and Onslow
Counties to the east; Pender County to the south; and Sampson County to the
west. Kenansville, the County Seat, is located in the center of the County.
Duplin County is located approximately 80 miles from Raleigh, 55 miles from
Wilmington, 65 miles from Fayetteville, and 55 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.