Location: US 117 south of Burgaw
County: Pender
Original Date Cast: 1948
The area known as Stag Park received its name from a party of English explorers from Barbados in 1663. Sixty years later, as people began settling the land along the Cape Fear River, Proprietary Governor George Burrington ordered a land office opened, and deeds issues so that the Proprietors could obtain rent payments. Burrington himself took out a grant for the tract known as Stag Park, a 10,000-acre plot.
Burrington was known for angering both his allies and enemies. After a particularly violent episode at Christopher Gale’s house on August 23, 1724, Gale, the Chief Justice, went to England with the support of seven of the councillors to convince the Lords Proprietors to dismiss Burrington. In the summer of 1725, Gale returned to North Carolina, successful in his goal. Burrington likely remained in North Carolina until hearing that his home colony was to come under royal authority. In 1729 Burrington traveled to England to secure the royal governorship.
On February 25, 1731, Burrington was sworn into office as the first royal governor. Although he met with initial enthusiasm, he soon managed to alienate even some of his former allies on the council. In May Chief Justice William Smith resigned and traveled to England seeking Burrington’s dismissal. Smith remained there until the spring of 1733 when the decision was made to replace Burrington. His successor, Gabriel Johnston would not arrive in North Carolina until November 1734.
After Burrington’s death in 1759, Stag Park and Burrington’s estate at Hawfields in Orange County, passed into the hands of Samuel Strudwick, an English official, whose son Edward was sent to North Carolina to oversee the plantations. The land was eventually confiscated and broken up into smaller plats following the American Revolution.
References:
William S. Price, Jr., “A Strange Incident in George Burrington’s Royal Governorship,” North Carolina Historical Review (April 1974): 149-158
William L. Saunders, Colonial Records of North Carolina, III and IV (1886)
A. Roger Ekirch, Poor Carolina: Politics and Society in Colonial North Carolina, 1729-1776 (1981)
William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, I, 283-284—sketch by William S. Price, Jr.
Michael Hill, ed., Governors of North Carolina (2007)