Milburnie Dam History
Cultural resource field investigations for the Milburnie Dam Mitigation Bank Project (referred to hereafter as the “Project’) in Wake County, North Carolina, were conducted by Legacy Research Associates (Legacy) in Durham, NC, for Restoration Systems LLC in Raleigh, NC. The work was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA 1996, as amended) and according to requirements established by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). All fieldwork was designed to follow guidelines established by the Secretary of Interior and the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology.
The final report is available below:
HISTORY OF MILBURNIE DAMS AND MILLS
The Neuse River is estimated to be about 2 million years old, and archeological evidence indicates that people have lived along the Neuse for approximately 14,000 years. Early native American people who lived along the Neuse included the Tuscarora, the Coree, the Neusiok, and the Secotan tribes. In fact, the name “neuse” is said to come from the Neusiok language, meaning “peace” or “peaceful.” None of the above tribes are accounted for after the early 1700s due to disease, dispersion, and wars among the tribes and with early European settlers.