In 1870 a group of Croatan Indians migrated from their homes in Robeson County, North Carolina, to southeast Georgia, following the turpentine industry. Eventually many became tenant farmers for the Adabelle Trading Company, growing cotton and tobacco. The community established Mount Zion Baptist Church in Adabelle, as well as a school and a nearby cemetery. After the collapse of the Adabelle Trading Company, the Croatans faced economic hardship and social injustice, and as a result most members of the community returned to North Carolina by 1920. The tribe to which these families belonged became known as the Lumbee in the early 1950s.