Scuffletown, North Carolina

Most Scuffletonians were poor and made livings by growing crops, hunting and fishing, picking berries, or performing labor for neighboring farmers.

The Lumbee people in southeastern North Carolina originated from various Native American/Indian groups which were greatly impacted by conflicts and infectious diseases dating back to the period of European colonization.

[1] Culturally, this group was not particularly distinct from proximate European Americans; they were mostly agrarian, and shared similar styles of dress, homes, and music.

[3] Not viewed as Native Americans by the state of North Carolina until the 1880s, these people were generally dubbed "mulattos" by locals and in federal documents throughout the mid-1800s to distinguish them from blacks.

[8] According to historian Malinda Maynor Lowery, in the early 1800s intermarriage and social interaction among blacks, whites, and Native Americans was common in the community, though this faded over subsequent decades.

[15] According to the historian Lowery, Scuffeltown encompassed many smaller locations including Prospect, Hopewell, New Hope, Union Chapel, Saddletree, Harper's Ferry, Saint Annah, Fair Grove, and Moss Neck.

[13] Journalist Connee Brayboy included Moss Neck, Pates, Red Banks, Evans Crossing, and Brooks' Settlement within the area of Scuffletown.

Contemporary accounts by Norment and journalists describe it as a swampy area marked by occasional hills and log cabins of rudimentary build.

[19] Scuffletown residents, who were mostly poor, also provided for themselves by picking wild blackberries and whortleberries, hunting and fishing, or working as day laborers for neighboring farmers.

[19][a] According to Norment, the Scuffletonians were notorious for loose morals and committing petty crime, including theft of neighbors' livestock and engaging in drunken brawls.