The Moore family owned Orton Plantation. Initially, they lived in South Carolina. In early 1700s, they moved to southeast North Carolina, bringing the cultivation of rice (and West African captive laborers) with them.  Orton started the rice industry in Lower Cape Fear NC. 

This is why the area is today known as the northernmost edge of the Gullah Geechee Corridor.  Rice plantations -- and the specifically-skilled African men & women who did the work -- were prevalent along the coast until the Civil War did away with the free labor.