Clarkton, NC

Clarkton is a Bladen County town of 614 residents in the 2020 census, positioned where North Carolina Highway 211 meets U.S. 701, about 11 miles south of Elizabethtown and the Cape Fear River. The railroad arrived by 1860, when the place was called Brown Marsh Station. The name shifted to Dalton and then Clarkton in 1874, honoring merchant and farmer John Hector Clark; the town incorporated in 1901. The Cape Fear River and coastal plain sit just beyond the highway grid.

Three local landmarks keep that railroad and settlement history close: Brown Marsh Presbyterian Church, the John Hector Clark House, and the former Clarkton Depot are all listed on the National Register. Former lieutenant governor James C. "Jimmy" Green also called Clarkton home. CSX tracks still run alongside North and South Railroad Streets, while farms, NC 211, U.S. 701, and nearby Bladenboro shape the town's daily reach. Clarkton remains a small crossroads whose history is easy to find in its streets and buildings.