Abstract:
In 1905, the Wilmington financier, Hugh McRae, began six colonies in southeastern North Carolina. Encompassing ten acres a piece, each colony was settled by a specific European Nationality; Italians settled in St. Helena, Poles in Artesia, Greeks in Marathon, Dutch in Castle Hayne and Van Eeden, and the Germans and Hungarians in New Berlin. Specializing in the dairy industry as well as the production of fruits and vegetables, three of the six colonies persisted.