Located nine miles south of Burgaw, Rocky Point is a small community of several hundred people. Though it is still home to many farmers and business owners, much of Rocky Point’s younger generation commutes to Wilmington.
Since Revolutionary times, Rocky Point has been known for it’s wonderfully fertile soil, growing bountiful crops each year without the use of much fertilizer. Within a five mile radius of the town there are as many as 5,000 acres of fertile marl sub-soil land that will last as long as time itself. When the channel of the Cape Fear River was deepened, the rock that filled the new inlet below Wilmington came from the Rocky Point section of the North East Cape Fear River. Upon completion in 1875, it was called “The Rocks.”
In 1880 the French brothers began operating Excelsior Plantation, producing fertilizer from the rock quarries and marl beds on their property. At that time, this special fertilizer made from chalk and marl deposits, was highly recommended by the State chemists and was exclusively produced at Excelsior Plantation.
