Verona, North Carolina - United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

In the year 1941, the United States Government began building Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, the largest amphibious base in the country. To gain the property for the base, Eminent Domain was enforced condemning the lands of many Verona residents, some of which lost land that had been in their families for over a century. In a personal account by Myrtle Margaret Fisher published in The Heritage of Onslow County, she said:

They (her parents Joseph Cephus Fisher and Sarah Margaret Swinson Fisher) made their home at Maple Hill for several years and some of the children were born there but most of us were born at Verona on the “Old Fisher Place” which has long since grown up and abandoned. After their move to the Loop Road of Verona, which was across the tracks on property purchased from Mama’s brother Vannie, four more children were born making us a family of four children. Eventually our farm became a self supporting one. Unknowingly, we would live on condemned property in the Stump Sound Township, where the U.S. Government had preconceived ideas of building a very large military complex on the coastal waters of our county for the training of soldiers. It would later become the largest amphibious base in the world. Time passed with many attempts to obtain a better price than my parents were offered for the farm and acreage, so Daddy was forced to sell to the government. The sale was finalized on October 30, 1941. It was disbursed as follows: for the 210 acres of land: $2505.00, dwelling: $800.00, barn: $200.00, smoke house: $35.00, poultry house: $5.00, two tobacco barns: $200.00, and for all the timber they were paid $600.00. This wasn’t nearly enough for the farm and timber but there was nothing else they felt could be done as they had several meetings with government officials with no let-up on price.

Following the building of Camp Lejeune many families were put in situations like Ms. Myrtle Fisher’s family, with no house, and no land and very little compensation for the property they were forced to sell to the government. A major problem was that when the base came, it brought industry to Jacksonville, increasing the value of the land. So the displaced persons that had to sell to the government were now looking for new land with very little money, and property prices much, much higher. It took most individuals two to five years to resettle, and some had to leave the county completely to find property.