Buffalo City, North Carolina

Buffalo City was a logging and moonshine town in East Lake Township, Dare County, North Carolina, United States. It was on the mainland, 19 miles (31 km) west of Manteo near present-day Manns Harbor. The marshy land where Buffalo City once stood, near U.S. 64, is now part of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The town's history lasted approximately 80 years from the 1870s to 1950s, but at one time Buffalo City's population of 3,000 in the early 20th century made it the largest community in Dare County. A hotel, post office, schoolhouse, general store, 100 miles (160 km) of railroad track and rows of homes once stood on the now-abandoned area. Today, the only remnants of the ghost town include a road sign, rusted rails and building debris now overgrown with weeds.

Founded shortly after the Civil War by the Buffalo Timber Company, Buffalo City was constructed on the north side of Milltail Creek by African-American laborers and more than 200 Russian immigrants. Many of these immigrants stayed and worked at the new logging town and composed half of the town’s population. The area surrounding Milltail Creek was harvested for juniper, cypress, and pine trees and became the largest logging operation in Northeastern North Carolina. Lumbers were paid 50 cents each day, although money was in the form of company-made aluminum pieces that were only good in Buffalo City. All purchases at the general store were made with this money. Given the locale's status as a company town, Buffalo City was never formally incorporated and had no formal law enforcement. Such authority as there was came from the timber company officials in their roles as officers in the corporation owning the private property upon which the town stood.

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