A Town Called Hope Mills It was in the early 1700s that the first settlers arrived in the Cape Fear Region of what is now Cumberland County. A land office for the region opened in 1724 when there were already settlements beginning along the Cape Fear River and its creeks. In 1761, a committee appointed by the Governor’s Council determined that the area at the mouth of Rockfish Creek was not a fit place for erecting a town, as the landing was very steep, the back roads unfit, and a very expensive bridge would be necessary. However early land grants show that settlers, who were mainly Highlanders from Scotland, had begun living along the roads built in the area, most of them upon or close to rivers and waterways, the Little Rockfish Creek being one of them. By the mid-to-late 1700s a large saw mill had been built along the Little Rockfish Creek. There is evidence that gristmills, sawmills, lumber camps and pottery ovens existed along the banks of the creek. The 18th Century was a period of booming trade in the Colonies. 1787 was a landmark year for the nation when the national constitution was written by some forty Americans who met in the Philadelphia Statehouse. By 1789 the country had established itself as an independent nation and had its first President. Little Rockfish Creek That same year, 1789, the first permanent settlement was organized on Little Rockfish Creek. By 1830, the cotton industry had begun developing in the South. In 1839 the first cotton factory on Little Rockfish Creek – Rockfish Factory - was completed. The mill was constructed in approximately the