[4] The shrinking of town's size, and damage from the storms has led to a rapid decline in tax base.

In 1807 plans were made to build a town upon the lands of John Wooton at the bluff to be known as Wootonton.

[7] The downtown continued to thrive until the late 1980s when a car dealership moved from the business district to another location.

The decline in Fair Bluff was similar to neighboring towns of Tabor City, Boardman, Brunswick, Cerro Gordo, and Chadbourn.

[13] On November 3, 2015, the verdict was unanimously affirmed by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, leaving in place the 90 to 117-month prison sentence originally imposed.

[14] In 2016, the town was devastated by flooding on the Lumber River caused by Hurricane Matthew, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

[16] As of June 2018, the rebuilding effort was still underway but several hundred residents who had fled rising floodwaters never returned and a number of businesses remained shuttered.

[17] In September 2018 Fair Bluff was flooded again by the impact of Hurricane Florence, again forcing evacuations and leaving the downtown area under water again,[18] and destroying 72 homes.

[19] After Florence, many buildings in the downtown area of the town lay abandoned, with no plans to reoccupy or fix them.

[28] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.2 square miles (5.7 km2), all land.