Abstract:
During the Colonial Period, North Carolina accounted for three fifths of all naval stores shipped from the American colonies to England. Naval stores include tar, rosin, turpentine, and pitch. In 1705, England, no longer dependent on Sweden and the Baltic countries for stores, passed the Naval Stores Bounty Act, authorizing large payments for the goods from the colonies. Although the turpentine industry boomed in the 1840s and 50s, the Civil War was devastating to the industry which never fully recovered after the war.