The earliest attempts to settle North Carolina by Europeans focused on the Pamlico Sound area and Cape Fear. Giovanni da Verrazzano reached the Outer Banks in 1524 in search of a route to China. His writings appear to include a description of the shoreline of what would become Onslow County. The English made several attempts to colonize the region, first with the ill-fated Roanoke Colony, followed by several expeditions from the Virginia Company located in Jamestown, Virginia in the early 1600s. The first lasting establishments were Edenton, Bath, New Bern, and Beaufort, all established in the 1660s. Welsh, Africans, English, Highland Scots, Scots-Irish, and Germans all came to the New World and migrated to the shores of North Carolina. Many entered America through other colonies, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and traveled to North Carolina to settle.

In 1663, England's King Charles II granted all of the area between the 36^th and 31st degrees Northern latitude (what is currently Georgia, North, and South Carolina) westward to the Pacific Ocean to eight of his most loyal followers in the Carolina Charter. The area remained under this system of English governance until 1729, when North and South Carolina became royal colonies.

Most of the early settlers in the New River area had small plantations focusing on raising corn and livestock. The communities grew quickly in the 18th century, in part because of the naval stores industry that was fueled by the extensive longleaf pine resources of the area. The Naval Stores Act of 1704 encouraged the production of tar, turpentine, pitch, and hemp for the construction and maintenance of wooden ships, and brought new settlers to the area. Road construction began at this time to facilitate travel of settlers and resources. During the Young Nation (1776-1815) and Antebellum periods (1815-1861) the naval stores industry would continue to increase in importance for Onslow County. Road construction began at this time to facilitate travel of settlers and resources. In 1728, Ennett's Ferry (now Snead's Ferry) began operating on the New River.

At the top of the social ladder were the plantation owners. Locally these included Hope Dexter, Edward Marshburn, Christian Heidelberg, Joseph French Sr., Edward Ward and Colonels Rich Ward, William Cray Sr. and Henry Rhodes. Below the plantation owners were yeoman, tradesmen, artisans, farmers who rented or leased the land they tilled, and indentured servants. As time went by, the plantations on Camp Lejeune grew into large farms with slaves and over 100 acres of land. From the early 1700's until the end of the Civil War, African American slaves provided the labor for the naval stores industry and plantations.

Johnstown, the Precinct's first county seat, was established on Mittum's Point, New River (now Town Point) and incorporated in 1741. The town, laid out on 100 acres of land, remained the county seat until 1752 when it was lost in a violent hurricane. The county seat was moved to Wantland's Ferry in present-day Jacksonville, in 1756 where it has remained. Onslow County grew steadily in prosperity through the first half of the 19th century due to the ready supply of resources to support naval stores. In fact, North Carolina led the world in naval stores production between 1720 and 1870, and Onslow County played a significant part in this role. By the late 1700s, when America was gearing up for the Revolutionary War, there were an estimated 5,000 residents in Onslow County, and approximately one third of these were slaves.

Onslow County played an important part in the Revolutionary War when Colonel William Cray, Sr. led the county militia in America's first decisive victory of the war at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in February 1776. By this time, Robert Whithurst Snead had opened Snead's Ferry along the New River, and Colonel George Mitchell had built a water-powered gristmill on Wallace Creek. In Young Nation and Antebellum times, gristmills were usually part of small rural communities that had a few taverns, stores, post offices, and churches. In 1791, Dr. William J. Montfort, Sr. bought the mill, which we now know as Mumford's Mill. Montford Point, where Dr. Montford built his plantation house in the late 1700s, is now the site of Camp Johnson.

After the war, Onslow County continued to prosper with sales of naval stores and expanding markets in lumber, fisheries, and agricultural products. Settlement continued to increase in Onslow County, expanding along the waterways as agricultural lands and longleaf pine stands were used and abandoned, and settlers moved inland. Onslow County's first post office opened in 1823, and its first steam-powered sawmill was built by Christopher Coney in 1850. By 1860, there were more than 8,800 residents in Onslow County. Approximately 30 percent of the families owned slaves who were used in the production of naval stores, “clearing and planting ground, maintaining fields and gardens, caring for livestock, cutting timber, coopering, or splitting shingles (Reid and Simpson 1998).

Civil War fighting in Onslow County centered on the waterways of Bear Creek, Bear Inlet, and New River. On November 23, 1862 Lieutenant William B. Cushing's Union gunboat, Ellis, entered the New River inlet to destroy salt works. Cushing burned a vessel loaded with cotton and turpentine at Stone's Bay and captured two schooners at Wantland's Landing. As his ship maneuvered its way back out to sea, it grounded on a shoal across from Traps Bay and was abandoned under intense fire from Confederate forces.

Union blockades created significant shortages in supplies to the area, and when soldiers returned to Onslow County after the war, many faced serious losses of land, equipment, and labor in the form of slaves. The county's population fell to approximately 7,500 as many former residents moved out of the area. The local economy began a shift from naval stores to agriculture, lumber, and shellfish, including growing markets for New River oysters.

The map on the left below is what Onslow County looked like in the 18th century. The map on the right is of Camp Lejuene as it looks today. The former location of the William Cray Plantation & Cray Gravesite is also noted.