Garland, NC

Garland is a Sampson County town in the southwest part of the county, with a history that began before the railroad and took its modern shape from it. The community was known as Sloan's Crossing, and in 1886 residents asked the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad for a depot near the present town. Garland incorporated in 1907 and was named for Henry Garland, the assistant postmaster general of the United States. The 2020 census counted 595 residents.

The town's story also includes Dr. Amos Johnson, whose rural Garland clinic became associated with one of the country's early physician-assistant training programs. Farm roads, churches, and the town's municipal center now fill the space once organized around the depot. Garland remains a small service point in the Sampson County countryside, with Clinton and other county towns handling larger regional errands. The old Sloan's Crossing name, the railroad-era street pattern, and the town's medical history give Garland more layers than its size suggests.