OVERHILLS HUNTING LODGE

1917–1990s

Linda Willard

Lost in the weeds and trees on the back side of Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), North Carolina are the ruins of the once magnificent Overhills Hunting Lodge.

The property was originally a 13, 000-acre turpentine plantation owned by Daniel McDiarmanrd. Before the property was sold to the Rockefeller family, it saw several owners and just as many uses. It was used for timbering, hunting, and hunting clubs for the wealthy industrialist and businessmen.

In 1917, at about the same time the United States Army acquired the land for what is now Fort Liberty, Percy Avery Rockefeller, the nephew of John D. Rockefeller, purchased 30,000 acres of the original McDiamard plantation. This became the winter playground and hunting lodge for the Rockefeller family.

Overhills had its own post office and train station. This was in addition to the horse stables, dog kennels, an indoor swimming pool, a fully stocked lake, and a golf course.

The main living quarters for the family, Croatan Lodge, was commissioned by Rockefeller in 1928. Croatan Lodge was created in a Colonial Revival style. The buildings were assembled using historic bricks and ceramic roof tiles salvaged from buildings being torn down in Charleston, South Carolina. The house had four floors, five bedrooms, and a four-car garage. The fourth floor was a dormitory with separate boys’ and girls’ baths. The fourth floor was also used by the nannies and other servants.

All was not peace at the Overhills Estate. Averell Harriman, the Secretary of Commerce under President Truman and later governor of New York, also had a hunting lodge near Overhills. Rockefeller preferred fox hunting and Harriman preferred bird hunting. Harriman felt Rockefeller’s fox hounds interfered with his bird dogs. At some point, Harriman sold his property and never returned to the area.

In 1934, at the age of fifty-seven, Percy Rockefeller died following stomach surgery for ulcers. The family continued to visit Overhills Estate after Rockefeller’s death. The last visit by the Rockefeller family was in the 1990s. The United States Army purchased the property. The original plan was to turn the Overhills Estate into a southern Camp David. This plan apparently fell through, and the property was used for special training. What is left of the Overhills Estate Lodge is left to the elements and vandals.