Pender County hosts the N.C. Blueberry Festival in June

Pender County, N.C., has about 15 miles of oceanfront property facing the Atlantic Ocean, and Topsail Beach is a world-famous summer destination for vacationers.

Drive a few miles inland and the landscape totally changes. You’re surrounded by acres and acres of lush farmlands. Burgaw, the seat of Pender County government, is the epicenter of North Carolina’s blueberry growing region.

Locals lovingly refer to Burgaw as “Blueberrytown.” Everyone is invited to come and enjoy the North Carolina Blueberry Festival. Save the date; it’s June 14-15, 2024.

 

Blueberry season typically runs from late May into early July. Many of the local farms offer tours. Festival organizers guarantee a “berry” good time for all. The Miss Blueberry Scholarship Pageant selects “queens” in 10 age groups.

 

Burgaw owes it existence to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad that began operation in 1840. The rail line crossed Burgaw Creek, and railroad officials decided to build a station nearby, naming it Burgaw Depot.

State historians have identified the original building, the present warehouse section, as being built circa 1850. That makes it the oldest railroad structure in the state still standing. A post office opened at Burgaw Depot in 1854.

Burgaw takes its name from a Native American tribe that once inhabited the area along the creek. Old timers say “burgaw” is a tribal language word that means “mud hole.”

Mike Taylor, who recently retired as director of the Pender County Library, has a different interpretation. He says the word “burgaw” actually comes from Germany and means a “fortified place on a wet meadow.” Much better.

Pender County was separated from New Hanover County in 1875. The railroad company deeded a plot of land for the construction of a courthouse at Burgaw in 1876. The town was incorporated in 1879, and the post office name was changed from Burgaw Depot to Burgaw that same year.

Burgaw’s present-day motto is “Good Town Year Round.” Some say it’s a “perfect small southern town,” with about 3,400 residents and more than 30 motion picture and television programing credits.

The Pender County tourism office has produced a video, “Hometown Hollywood,” that delves into Burgaw’s role in the film industry. One of the narrators is Mike Taylor. He said the first movie shot in Burgaw was “Silver Bullet,” in 1985, a “horror thriller” based on author Stephen King’s “Cycle of the Werewolf.”

 

About 350 local citizens appeared in “Silver Bullet” as “extras,” Taylor said. “It was really something.”

History buffs should travel about 13 miles west of Burgaw to see the Moores Creek National Battlefield, where the North Carolina Patriots battled an army of Loyalists at Moores Creek Bridge on Feb. 27, 1776.

It was the first Revolutionary War battle on North Carolina soil, a decisive victory for the Patriots, which was accomplished in just three minutes. About 70 Loyalists were killed or wounded, and 850 men were taken prisoner. The Patriots lost a single soldier, John Grady.

 At the 86-acre national battlefield park, a monument pays tribute to Grady. The inscription reads: “Here lies the remains of Private John Grady of Duplin County, who fell bravely fighting for his country – the first martyr in the cause of freedom in North Carolina….”)

 

The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge was significant for several reasons. It marked the permanent end of royal authority in North Carolina, and it spurred the creation of the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776, instructing North Carolina’s delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence. 

North Carolina was the first American colony to take such action.