Sarecta, North Carolina

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Sarecta, North Carolina

|settlement_type = Formerly incorporated community

|nickname =

|image_skyline = File:1943 Sarceta excerpt from Kenansville Quadrangle USGS map.jpg

|image_caption = Location of Sarecta circled on 1943 map

|pushpin_map = North Carolina

|pushpin_label = Sarecta

|pushpin_label_position =

|pushpin_map_caption = Location within the state of North Carolina

|pushpin_mapsize =

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = North Carolina

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Duplin

|government_footnotes =

|government_type =

|leader_title1 =

|leader_name1 =

|established_title =

|established_date = 1736 (incorporated 1787)

|timezone = Eastern (EST)

|utc_offset = -5

|timezone_DST = EDT

|utc_offset_DST = -4

|elevation_footnotes =

|elevation_ft =

|coordinates = {{coord|34|58|45|N|77|51|27|W|type:city_region:US-NC|display=title}}

|postal_code_type = ZIP code

|postal_code =

|area_codes= 910, 472

|blank_name =

|blank_info =

|blank1_name =

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|footnotes =

}} Sarecta was the first incorporated town in Duplin County, North Carolina, established in 1787. In 1736, Duplin County (then upper New Hanover County) was the destination of several hundred Ulster Scots (Scotch-Irish) and a handful of Swiss Protestants. They settled on a plot of land, 71,160 acres between the N. E. Cape Fear River and Black River, obtained from the Crown by Henry McCulloh Esq. of London. Sarecta, originally called Sorcata, was the first settlement in the region on the Northeast Cape Fear.{{cite book|title=The Historic Architecture of Warsaw, N.C.|page=10|publisher=Righter Publishing Company|year=2007}}

When Sampson County was created out of a portion of Duplin County in 1784, there was a need to establish a new court house in a more central location. Sarecta and the present location of Kenansville were the two candidates, and General James Kenan (for whom Kenansville is named) cast the deciding vote against Sarecta.(26 July 1903). [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042104/1903-07-26/ed-1/seq-10/ Picturesque Kenansville], News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)

By act of the North Carolina General Assembly on January 6, 1787, the town was established under the spelling "Sarecto" and was 100 acres in size including lots and property for a town commons.[https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr24-0017 An Act to Establish a Town on the East Side of the North-East of Cape Fear River, in Duplin County, and for Adding Alexander Martin, Esquire, to the Board of Commissioners for the Town of Martinville, in Guilford County] (1787) In the early 19th century, gazetteers would typically describe "Sarecto" as the "chief town" in Duplin County.[https://books.google.com/books?id=3COc-UBTG0UC&dq=sarecto+duplin&pg=RA6-PP4 A Gazetteer of the United States] (1818)

The town was named for Soracte Mountain near Rome. It still had its town charter until 1984 when North Carolina did a sweep to revoke the charters of towns which no longer had a functioning government.(27 June 1984). [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/991649846 41 Towns Will Lose Charters], Statesville Record & Landmark, page 8A

The town exported raw materials to Wilmington.