What's In It

“The True Story Told for the First Time”

Here you will find never-before-revealed insights into the untold, compelling, and remarkable history of Havelock and eastern Craven County. Think nothing happened here until the coming of Cherry Point? Think again.

In this volume you will discover:

Ø      The Havelock district was settled before  the founding of New Bern.

Ø      The massive Yankee invasion and three-year Civil War occupation of Havelock featuring a soldier’s gripping chronicle published here for the first time.

Ø      Why the early settlers disappeared.

Ø      Why the Havelock-Harlowe area became the notorious moonshining, bootlegging, rum-running capital of North Carolina.

Ø      MCAS Cherry Point is not at Cherry Point.

Ø      The bloody Indian war that caused local death and destruction.

Ø      The inestimable impact of the railroad and the U.S. Marines.

Ø      Important historic details about New Bern, Newport, Beaufort, Morehead City, Harlowe, Croatan, Riverdale and more.

“I loved it. I can’t believe Havelock now has a resource like this.”

                              —Steve  Thompson, retired history teacher and Civil War researcher

“A loving, colorful account of Havelock’s place in history. Readers will be truly amazed…simply too interesting not to share.”        

                             —Hunter Bretzius, Associate publisher/Executive editor, Havelock News

Eddie Ellis, Havelock’s official historian, is a recognized expert on the area’s past.  He has written often for newspapers and magazines and entertained diverse audiences for years. In This Small Place is the culmination of his life-time of local research.

Original details, rare photos,

illustrations and maps…

“An absolute must read!”  

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In This Small Place is the culmination of a lifetime of historical research by the author. It is a series of interconnecting true stories about a small eastern North Carolina town, Havelock, and its surrounding environs, Craven County, its people and its past.

The book covers the period from the 1690s when the earliest European settlers arrived to the present day. It explains the local Tuscarora Indian War, Civil War events, the coming of the railroad, the local production of illegal liquor, the naval stores industries, the founding of the City of Havelock and the establishment of Cherry Point, the world’s largest Marine Corps air station.

Included in the book is a never-before-published first person account of the Battle of New Bern during the Civil War by a Union soldier. Also included is a three-chapter biography of British Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Havelock, the city’s namesake.

 In contrast to a typical local history, In This Small Place sets out to be more accessible than archetypal accounts of the past filled with dates and names. This is accomplished through the author’s conversational, informal style and a light sprinkling of humor.

Despite the laid back approach, ITSP is being hailed by authoritative sources as a valuable historical resource. Its details about the three centuries since the community’s settlement, the thoroughness of its research and the reproduction of rare artwork and photographs have drawn praise from historians, journalists and the reading public alike.