Black-and-white aerial photo from March 4, 1956: farm fields and a farmstead west of Riggs Road, surrounded by pine woods. Color aerial photo from 2026 of the same ground: the streets and homes of Cotton Hill now cover the old fields.

Before the streets, there were fields.

Cotton Hill in Hubert, North Carolina, photographed from a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane on March 4, 1956. Scroll to watch seventy years pass.

1956Farm fields and a farmstead west of Riggs Road, surrounded by pine woods.
1956 → 2026Keep your eye on the open fields. That is where the streets go.
2026The same ground today. Cotton Hill's streets and lots sit on the old fields.

Seventy years. Same ground.

One thing moved. In 1956 the bend in Riggs Road ran up to about 150 feet west of where the road runs today, along the edge of the farm field.

Watch it again

1956: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Commodity Stabilization Service, aerial photo AOR-4N-13, March 4, 1956. 2026: Onslow County GIS aerial imagery. Both are pinned to the same ground coordinates, so every field edge and tree line stays in place as the years change.