These heirloom variety sweet potatoes are grown by Millard and Connie Locklear of New Ground Farm in Pembroke, NC. Millard and Connie are members of the Lumbee tribe. Millard's great great grandfather Alonso left the Pembroke area in the mid to late 1800s because of the Civil War and land grabbing. He and his brothers settled around Lake Okeechobee in South Florida. At the time, the lake brought together a diversity of other Native American groups. Alonso and his brothers worked there in a saw mill for 11 years, after which some returned to Pembroke. When they returned, they brought with them Porto Rico sweet potatoes and sugar cane. The Porto Rico was one of the main varieties of sweet potato cultivated in Florida at that time. Millard selects the best potatoes during his harvest each year to save for the following year's crop so he can continue growing the potato that has sustained his ancestors for generations.

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