Page 2, Civil War Blockade Runners Elizabeth and Bendigo
An excerpt from the book, The Beginning and Development of Holden Beach 1756-2000, by John M. Holden.

Alfred Brown, Sr. was born in Denmark. He came to the United States on a freighter when he was a young teen-age boy, in the early part of the 1800s. The ship's first port was Jacksonville, Florida, and the second port was Charleston, South Carolina, where young brown departed from the ship.

He came to Whiteville, North Carolina, and stayed several years before marrying and coming to Brunswick County. He settled his family near Lockwood's Folly River Inlet. His desire was to build a home and develop a business near the river.

Securing materials for building purposes in the early days was difficult. Brunswick County had in 1808 discontinued using the old courthouse that was located in the Supply area near the river. The courts and offices were moved to Smithville, later called Southport. The building had been abandoned several years before Alfred Brown came to Lockwood's Folly Inlet.

Mr. Brown bought and dismantled the abandoned old log courthouse and began moving the parts. The logs were put in the river near the bridge and several rafts were made of them there. The remainder of the material was piled on the rafts. These rafts drifted down the river, a distance of twelve miles by water, to the inlet area.

There was enough material from the old structure to build a two story log home in the field near the landing. Using rocks left on the river bank by the sailing ships, he build a large rock chimney at the end of the log house. A trading post was built on the river bank.

Federal gunboats fired many cannon balls at the Brown residence and business during the Civil War. When the gunboats were active in the area, Mr., Brown sent his family away form their home; however, he would always stay around his property.

During one of these bombardments he was sitting on his back steps. Cannon balls had been landing in his field and yard. He was surprised when his house received a direct hit. The cannon ball went through the front wall near a window in an upstairs bedroom, passed through that room and through the back wall, but did not explode until it hit a large mulberry tree in the back yard.

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