Near Currie in Pender County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Blackwater Highways

— Moores Creek National Battlefield —

Courtesy of Thomas P. Martin, April 24, 2017

1. Blackwater Highways Marker

Inscription. Nearby Moores Creek not only figured in the battle but was critical to the naval stores economy, Surrounded by pine forests that generated tar and turpentine but with few passable roads to get the heavy barrels to market, the colonists used an intricate web of tidal creeks and rivers to reach the port of Wilmington – and the world.

Moores Creek and connecting waterways were the interstate highways of the 18th century and helped make the Carolina coast the world capital of shipbuilding products. The dark, tannin-stained waters of Moores Creek are only a few hundred yards downslope from this site.

…the river, by which he sends down all the lumber, tar and pitch, as it rises every tide sufficiently high to bear any weight. This is done on what is called rafts… – Janet Schaw of Scotland visited her brother's Cape Fear plantation in 1776 and described bow naval stores were transported.

[Captions]
Background: The barge Bee near the mouth of Moores Creek, 1890s. Flatbottom barges were ideal for transporting heavy casks of tar and turpentine down these shallow waterways.
Inset: Loading flats on the Cape Fear River, 1800s

Erected by National

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

Park Service.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Horticulture & Forestry • Industry & Commerce • Waterways & Vessels. A significant historical year for this entry is 1890.

Location. 34° 27.417′ N, 78° 6.55′ W. Marker is near Currie, North Carolina, in Pender County. It can be reached from Moores Creek Drive ¼ mile west of North Carolina Route 210. Marker is on the Tarheel Trail in Moores Creek National Battlefield. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Currie NC 28435, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain. It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

and in the Tidewater.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking

Photographed by Dave W, June 17, 2023

2. Blackwater Highways Marker

distance of this marker: Trees for a Navy (within shouting distance of this marker); Boxing the Pines (within shouting distance of this marker); Tarheel Trail (within shouting distance of this marker); Women's Monument (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); We Women Have...To Let Our Voices Be Heard (about 300 feet away); Vanishing Longleafs (about 300 feet away); Tar Kiln (about 400 feet away); Moores Creek National Battlefield (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Currie.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 19, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 21, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 192 times since then and 22 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on March 21, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 2. submitted on June 19, 2023, by Dave W of Co, Colorado.