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In 1768, James A. Richardson, a native of Stonington, Connecticut, built his home, Harmony Hall, on a large tract of land granted by King George III for his service in the French and Indian War, twelve miles from Elizabethtown, North Carolina, and one mile from the Cape Fear River.  An owner of a West Indies shipping line, he had earlier been shipwrecked off Cape Hatteras, and while waiting for the arrival of one of his ships, had explored the area.  He liked the Cape Fear River bottom lands so much that he decided to settle and make his home there.  About the same time, he met and married a widow, Elizabeth O'Neal Purdie.

Colonel Richardson served in the Revolutionary War, was captured and later paroled.  After learning of many British soldiers breaking their parole, he, too, broke his, and re-enlisted in the Continental Army.

Richardson died in 1810, and is buried in the Purdie Family Cemetery.

The Cumberland Association, later known as the Liberty Point Resolves,  was a resolution signed by fifty residents of Cumberland County, North Carolina, early in the American Revolution.

On June 20, 1775, these Patriots, who had formed themselves into a group known simply as "The Association", met at Lewis Barge's tavern in Cross Creek (now part of Fayetteville) to sign a document protesting the actions of Great Britain following the battles of Lexington and Concord. The signers expressed the hope that Great Britain and the colonies would be reconciled, but vowed that, if necessary, they would "go forth and be ready to sacrifice our lives and fortunes to secure her freedom and safety". The resolves were thus not a declaration of independence—public advocation for separation from Great Britain would not become common until 1776.