A bridge stood here across Moores Creek by 1743, crossing the creek to connect Mt. Misery near Wilmington with Cross Creek, now Fayetteville, along Negro Head Point Road. In 1776 it was locally called Widow Moores' Bridge. Eighteenth-century documents and a 1764 North Carolina law help show how such bridges were built: over deep or navigable streams they were to be at least twelve feet wide, made with good sawed plank clear of sap and at least two inches thick, with firm strong posts, rails, and bearers, well secured and fastened. Most bridges of that era were built of cypress or heart pine and were required to be good and lawful, passable for carts and wagons. Because colonial wood bridges lasted about ten years, Moores Creek Bridge may have been replaced as many as ten times between 1743 and 1851. Its appearance changed further in the twentieth century, including a late 1930s War Department bridge with bearers only, 1947 concrete abutments, no bridge in 1991, and a 1993 cypress bridge with bearers only, which was destroyed by a hurricane in 1999.