For a good time, attend the Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival

Shrimp lovers may want to make plans to enjoy the two-day Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival, which will be staged in this historic and rustic Onslow County, N.C., fishing village on Sept. 26-27.

The festival is a major community event that has been celebrated annually in Sneads Ferry since 1970.

In 2011, the North Carolina General Assembly approved a bill to designate the “Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival as the Official Shrimp Festival of the State of North Carolina.” The act was signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue.

This may be the year when the Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival experiences record-busting attendance, as the shrimping industry is expected to encourage a swarm of its people to attend and demonstrate their support for local, wild-caught shrimp that are typically netted within the inshore waters of North Carolina.

A fair number of those shrimp boats are harbored at Sneads Ferry just inside the New River Inlet. 

The community has a rich and colorful maritime heritage and takes its name from Robert W. Snead, a former state senator from Onslow County who once operated a ferry service as well as a tavern on the banks of the New River, below present-day Jacksonville.

Some current members of the state legislature want to shut down North Carolina’s shrimping industry by imposing anti-trawling measures that would force shrimpers out to sea, allowing them to only trawl in the Atlantic Ocean…and come no closer than a half-mile of the shoreline.

Commercial fishing families are saying that this restriction would be “unnecessary, unreasonable and unprofitable,” even leading to the ultimate destruction of the shrimping industry in North Carolina.

This year’s Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival should be quite interesting for attendees. One reason is the annual presence of the marketing folks from the “Got to Be NC” initiative, who represent the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

Their job is to promote North Carolina agricultural products and goods, including seafood. In 2024, “Got to Be NC” was a major sponsor of the on-site “Shrimparoo” at the Sneads Ferry festival, one of the premier attractions. What do they have in store this year?

Steve Troxler, North Carolina’s elected Commissioner of Agriculture, vehemently opposed the proposed anti-trawling amendments that came out of the state Senate in late June, and he voiced his opinion on this subject to legislators in a letter dated June 23.

Troxler wrote that his department “respectfully opposes” measures to “prohibit trawling in all inshore fishing waters and within one-half mile of the shoreline.”

He said any decision to close additional North Carolina waters to shrimping should only be considered if there is solid, scientific data showing that “shrimping will have a negative effect on the commercial seafood industry.” In Troxler’s opinion, studies have not justified or warranted such an anti-trawling ban.

“Seafood is a major food source in North Carolina and of critical economic importance to the state, especially coastal counties. Many of these are…economically challenged counties,” Troxler wrote.

“Shrimp is the number one seafood preferred by American consumers and has an estimated $100 million economic impact. Policies that restrict consumer access to domestic seafood contribute to national food insecurity and can present food safety issues. Doing so without a sound scientific basis is bad policy” and would only “increase our reliance on imported seafood,” Troxler concluded.

If you’re interested in attending the Sneads Ferry Seafood Festival this year, the best source of information is the official website at sneadsferryshrimpfestival.org. 

In addition to food and drink, the festival features a parade, a pageant, games, competitions, cooking demonstrations, children’s activities, entertainment and fireworks.

Sneads Ferry namesake received governor’s pardon in 1792

One of the first settlers to arrive in the section of the North Carolina colony where the New River flows into the Atlantic Ocean was Edmund Ennett, who was granted a license from the British Crown to establish a river crossing ferry service in 1725. A settlement there took the name of Lower Ferry.

According to The Star-News, published in Wilmington, N.C., Robert W. Snead, an attorney, “moved into Lower Ferry in the 1750s to run a tavern. About a decade later, he became the operator of a second ferry, and for some reason his name stuck with the locals.”

The community became Sneads Ferry. (As is the case with many eastern North Carolina locales, apostrophes aren’t needed. They’re just extra trouble.)

 

Robert Snead was involved in local politics, and in 1791, he was charged with murdering American Revolutionary War hero Col. George Mitchell, his opponent for a seat in the North Carolina state Senate.

The Mitchell family preserved Col. Mitchell’s obituary, which was printed in the North-Carolina Gazette (North Carolina’s first newspaper, published by James Davis in New Bern). It read in part:

“Died today (Aug. 12, 1791) at Onslow Courthouse, Col. George Mitchell of Onslow County. Col. Mitchell and Robert W. Snead were competitors for representing Onslow County in the North Carolina Senate, and much ill will had developed in the political race. Mr. Snead was declared elected after the election was closed.”

“Mr. Snead was observed to call Col. Mitchell from amongst the people assembled at the courthouse and to go with him into a thicket nearby.”

 “Shortly afterwards a pistol shot was heard, and people came running from the courthouse. The crowd found Col. Mitchell lying dead in the presence of Mr. Snead. Mr. Snead was there apprehended and put in jail.”

“Col. Mitchell leaves a wife and eight children.” (He died at approximately age 45.)

Amy Kemp of NCPedia, a public library service offered through the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, added: In 1792, “Snead was tried and convicted of murder by a superior court in Wilmington; however, he found a full pardon signed by Gov. Richard Dobbs Spaight (shown below) when he arrived in court for sentencing.”

Today, Sneads Ferry is nearly surrounded on three sides by Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

 

Sneads Ferry remains unincorporated, so there are no precise “town limits.” Population estimates vary from about 3,000 residents to more than 10,000.

Sneads Ferry’s post office (established in 1842 and now identified as ZIP Code 28460) presently serves 12,591 postal customers, including more than 1,000 in the North Topsail Beach section of Onslow County.

 

Onslow County was formed in 1734 and was named for Sir Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the British House of Commons. He still holds the record for length of service as Speaker – having held that title for 33 consecutive years (from 1728-54).

 

The first county seat in Onslow County was at Town Point, located upriver from Lower Ferry. Town Point was renamed Johnston in honor of provincial governor Gabriel Johnston of Scotland, who held office from 1734-52.

 

A destructive hurricane flattened Johnston in 1752, and many village residents evacuated. Afterward, local leaders decided to move the county seat even farther upriver. In 1756, James Wantland, a landowner, innkeeper and ferry operator, offered to donate an acre of his land to the county for construction of a new courthouse.

A deal was struck, and the community became known as Wantland’s/Wantlands Ferry. (Historical documents refer to it both ways.)

The village was incorporated in 1842 and renamed as Jacksonville, to honor former U.S. President Andrew Jackson, who occupied the White House from 1829-37.