Bear Grass is a town in Martin County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 89 at the 2020 census,
Though the congregation of the Bear Grass Primitive Baptist Church organized in 1828, the Bear Grass community did not emerge until after the Civil War. A public school constructed of logs was founded by the late 1860s, directly across the street from the existing school. Reuben H. Rogerson opened a general mercantile store in the 1880s, followed in the early 1900s by several additional general merchandise stores and a blacksmith shop. The community's development was hindered by it not being located along a navigable stream or on either of the railroad lines traversing Martin County. A post office was established in 1885, although it was closed less than two years later.
Records are limited, complicated by the fact that Bear Grass businesses were listed in directories with Williamston addresses because that was the nearest post office. But by the turn of the century, the community consisted of several legal distilleries, cotton gins, sawmills, grist mills and blacksmith shops. Reuben H. Rogerson's two-story steam-powered sawmill and cotton gin was one of the area's largest before being destroyed by fire in November 1908.
The first decade of the 20th century witnessed considerable growth in the community. After several meetings in early 1909, the town's merchants drew up a charter, and on February 16, 1909, the North Carolina General Assembly granted a charter to the town of Bear Grass.
Demographics
As of the census