Bear Grass

History

The town of Bear Grass, located in the southern part of Martin County, was named for a type of yucca (Yucca flaccida) that grows less than two feet in height and is found abundantly in the region. One of the first settlers to the area was John Swinson, who received a large tract of land from the Earl of Granville, the last Lord Proprietor, in 1761. Bear Grass Swamp was a part of this property and was mentioned in Swinson's deed. Many of the early settlers were farmers whose principal crops of cotton and corn were sold in towns along the Tar and Roanoke rivers. Sheep, cattle, and hogs were also raised in large numbers, and farmers often supplemented their income with shingle making, woodcrafts, and the production of tar and turpentine from the area's abundant forests. Though the congregation of the Bear Grass Primitive Baptist Church organized in 1828, the Bear Grass community did not emerge until after the Civil War. A public school constructed of logs was founded by the late 1860s, directly across the street from the existing school. Reuben H. Rogerson opened a general mercantile store in the 1880s, followed in the early 1900s by several additional general merchandise stores and a blacksmith shop. The community's development was hindered by it not being located along a navigable stream or on either of the railroad lines traversing Martin County. A post office was established in 1885, although it was closed less than two years later. Records are limited, complicated by the fact that Bear Grass businesses were listed in directories with Williamston addresses because that was the nearest post office. But by the turn of the century, the community consisted of several legal distilleries, cotton gins, sawmills, grist mills and blacksmith shops. Reuben H. Rogerson's…

Geography

Bear Grass is in southern Martin County on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, southwest of Williamston, the county seat. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,973
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,783
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,779
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,493
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,341
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,280
• Eastern Bluebird

  Sialia sialis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,248
• Common Yellowthroat

  Geothlypis trichas (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,050

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2014-02-11
  7 km NW of Hobucken, North Carolina