Hallsville: The History of a North Carolina Turpentine Town Paperback – Large Print, November 15, 2025

Hallsville—originally known as Limestone—was once a thriving community on the Northeast Cape Fear River in Duplin County, North Carolina. In Hallsville: The History of a North Carolina Turpentine Town, Marc A. Bratcher offers the first comprehensive study of this area. He reconstructs the lives of the settlers, planters, merchants, and enslaved people who carved out a life for themselves along the banks of this important waterway.The work also explores Hallsville’s central role in the naval stores industry, particularly turpentine, situating the community within the larger Atlantic economy and the industrial demands of a growing nation. Bratcher demonstrates how Hallsville’s location along the Northeast Cape Fear made it a strategic riverport, drawing a sizable contingent of settlers before the rise of railroads shifted economic vitality to the western portions of the county.With meticulous research and a deep personal connection to the land, Bratcher reveals how the rise and fall of Hallsville mirrors larger patterns of settlement, industry, and cultural change across the American South. Both a local history and a broader reflection on community, memory, and loss, this book restores Hallsville to its rightful place in North Carolina’s past. Perfect for historians, genealogists, and anyone interested in early American rural life, this book shines a light on a place that time almost erased—but not quite. Read more