James and his kin named many of the creeks around their new home after those in Perquimans – Cypress Creek, Muddy Creek, even Chinquapin itself. An Algonquian word, chinquapin, or "chinkapin," is ''
Castanea pumila
''Castanea pumila'', commonly known as the Allegheny chinquapin, American chinquapin (from the Powhatan) or dwarf chestnut, is a species of chestnut native to the southeastern United States. The native range is from Maryland and extreme souther ...
'', a diminutive cousin of the American chestnut that is abundant along creeks and rivers of the Southeastern United States. According to Bible records, James Thigpen died at Chinquapen Orchard in 1737. His son, Dr. James Thigpen IV, purchased the land from his mother (she had remarried) for his son Job, holding it in trust until he reached maturity. When Job and his wife Annie began running the plantation in 1754, they dropped the latter part of the name, simply calling their home Chinquapin.
During this period significant numbers of
Scotch-Irish immigrants began arriving to the Cape Fear region, settling on land purchased from a London merchant name
Henry McCulloch who had obtained 71,160 acres along the river from the British Crown. There was extensive mingling between these newer inhabitants and those inhabitants who had been in the area for some time, such as the Thigpens, as marriage records substantiate.
In 1780 Chinquapin was burned by Tories, likely in retaliation for Job's service in the N.C. militia. As Job did not survive the war, it was left to his eldest son, Joab, to rebuild the plantation. Chinquapin has always been a predominantly agrarian community focused around the cultivation of corn and (to a lesser extent now) tobacco. Raising livestock and harvesting timber/naval stores has also been an essential component of the local economy for centuries. Before the railroad, the only feasible method for these commodities to reach the market (namely that of Wilmington) was via river. Ideally located near the N.E. Cape Fear, Chinquapin was oftentimes the port of departure for produce in eastern Duplin County, especially at times of low water levels when sites further upriver were not accessible. Throughout the early 19th century, the plantation at Chinquapin grew from a homestead with a handful of slaves to a community of several dozen people.
In 1865, towards the end of the Civil War, Union troops captured a small steamer named the A. P. Hurt at
Fayetteville. They appointed a former slave named Dan Buxton its pilot and sent it to operate at Chinquapin. After the war, Buxton tracked down the businessmen who had originally owned the vessel and informed them that he considered the A.P. Hurt to still be their property. Buxton promised to return her if they kept him as pilot for life. When she sank in 1923, he was still on the job after sixty years. Together with P.D. Robbins, who operated a steamer in the nearby community of
Hallsville (just above Chinquapin), the duo represent a rich, often overlooked, history of African American river boating in Duplin County.
In 1884, a post office was built in Chinquapin; the first
postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
was local farmer and storekeeper William Herring Sloan. Beginning in 1890, a project was funded by the state for the clearing of the river for small steamers to Hallsville, 88 miles above the mouth of the Northeast Cape Fear River, and for pole boats to Kornegay's Bridge, 103 miles above the mouth. The project lasted until roughly 1913, by which time $33,738.86 had been spent on improvements to and maintenance of the channel. River commerce remained steady until lumber companies began laying rail throughout the county.
A railroad depot was constructed in Chinquapin around 1916. The Atlantic & Carolina Railroad ran from the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...
(just north of the station at
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
) through
Kenansville to Chinquapin. North of Chinquapin, across Muddy Creek, the A & C, the Kinston Carolina RR (Rowland Lumber Company), and Ropper Lumber Company laid secondary tracks near Chinquapin to facilitate the harvesting of
longleaf pine
The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...
forests around that section of the county. Local photographs from this period are notable in that there are no significant groupings of trees visible in them. Despite the initial economic boom resulting from the presence of the railroad, which was dismantled during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and the widespread
clear-cut
Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/ logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of fore ...
logging that it allowed for, Chinquapin has grown very little since the early 20th century. The majority of the area's population growth has actually taken place in the countryside surrounding the community and in the nearby towns of
Wallace
Wallace may refer to:
People
* Clan Wallace in Scotland
* Wallace (given name)
* Wallace (surname)
* Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back
* Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name ...
and
Beulaville. Several small businesses still call Chinquapin home, however, and the community is still served by a post office and an elementary school.
Education
In the early 1900s, Booker T. Washington and a philanthropist named Julius Rosenwald helped set up schools for children in rural black communities. One such "Rosenwald School" operated in Chinquapin as late as the 1930s. Chinquapin High School was built in 1925 and first accredited in 1926 – its first principal was Arthur Ranes.
The building was two stories and of wood framed/brick veneer construction. A two-story attached classroom wing and detached cafeteria, both of masonry construction, were added in the 1950s. In 2010, the county demolished the structure through a controlled burn.
Notable residents
Chinquapin is the birthplace of
Caleb Bradham
Caleb Davis Bradham (May 27, 1867 – February 19, 1934) was an American pharmacist, best known as the inventor of soft drink Pepsi.
Early life
Bradham was born Caleb Davis Bradham on May 27, 1867, in Chinquapin, North Carolina to George Washing ...
(May 27, 1867 – February 19, 1934), inventor of Pepsi-Cola.
Randall Kenan
Randall Kenan (March 12, 1963 – August 28, 2020) was an American author. Born in Brooklyn, New York, at six weeks old Kenan moved to Duplin County, North Carolina, a small rural community, where he lived with his grandparents in a town named ...
(born March 12, 1963) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction who was raised in Chinquapin, North Carolina. Among his books is the collection of short stories Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, which was named a New York Times Notable Book in 1992. Kenan is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award and the John Dos Passos Prize.
Demographics
2020 census
''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''
Churches
* Chinquapin Presbyterian Church
* St. Lewis Missionary Baptist Church
* Shiloh Baptist Church
* Sharon Baptist Church
* Bethlehem Church
* First Missionary Baptist Church
*The Mount Church
*The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
References
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in North Carolina
Unincorporated communities in Duplin County, North Carolina