I wonder if it is a Beautyberry bush?
My daughter lives near Charlotte, just across the border in South Carolina. They are grown everywhere there. You might Google Beautyberry bush and see.

~Annie

You might also Google privet. I have a privet bush and it still has small dark purple berries on it but has dropped most of its leaves. My beauty berry bush also has purple berries but they are brighter and more medium than dark purple. By Christmas time, the beauty berry bush berries are brown and shriveled, and most of them have dropped from the bush.

I'm in zone 7, central Virginia, near the NC line and both privet and beauty berry are natives here.

Yup, it could be privet. Both are pretty.
Privet is pretty widespread across America though, so I thought maybe the Beautyberry was what she was seeing. They are planted all along the main streets there and in many people's yards - some as hedges, some as tall bushes and some clipped shorter. I have one that has dark purple berries and one with white berries. But you are right - they do drop off in by winter.

My native Beautyberry, however, does not drop off or shrivel in winter. They are a vibrant cerise colour in winter, even in snow, and then shrivel up in spring and drop. The Native Americans called them "Snowberries".

Anyway, these are two good guesses.

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Tue, Feb 26, 13 at 17:16

Could also be xylosma congestum. Mine has loads of dark purple berries this year. I have had it 5 years and it has never had as many berries.

Here is a link that might be useful: xylosma

I notice the linked one has different colored berries. But the leaves look the same I grow mine as a tree.

Thanks for all your help. I bet it is a privet, BUT the berries are not round, they are flat like a...lentil. And they are only maybe 1/8" of slightly larger. I tried to load a pic from my phone and it was too large and turned out very fuzzy, very purple, but too blurry.