Atkinson, NC

Atkinson began as a planned town on land William Hezekiah Lewis received from his mother. The name appeared in a Pender County deed in 1890, Roger P. Atkinson laid out the town squares and building lots, and the map was recorded in 1902. The town incorporated in 1909. The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad once ran through the middle of town on its Wilmington-to-Fayetteville line; the tracks are gone, though the rail bed still marks the center and the old depot survives on private property. That gives Atkinson a readable layout: squares, lots, and a railroad corridor that still cuts through the town.

Blueberries add a second distinctive thread. Frederick Vernon Coville helped domesticate the wild blueberry, and his son Frederick Coville settled in Atkinson and became one of the area's early growers; the Coville home still stands beside the old rail bed. Atkinson's civic map includes Town Hall, the Atkinson Library, Town Park, a gymnasium, and a softball field. The calendar includes a Christmas Parade, Halloween Trunk-or-Treat, and fire-department barbecue fundraisers, so the same small center holds local government, recreation, and recurring community events.