diff --git a/etc/mtree/BSD.root.dist b/etc/mtree/BSD.root.dist
--- a/etc/mtree/BSD.root.dist
+++ b/etc/mtree/BSD.root.dist
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@
         cron.d
         ..
         defaults
+            rc.conf.d	tags=package=rc
+	    ..
         ..
         devd
         ..
@@ -89,9 +91,9 @@
         ..
         profile.d
         ..
-        rc.conf.d
+        rc.conf.d	tags=package=rc
         ..
-        rc.d
+        rc.d		tags=package=rc
         ..
         security
         ..
diff --git a/libexec/rc/rc.subr b/libexec/rc/rc.subr
--- a/libexec/rc/rc.subr
+++ b/libexec/rc/rc.subr
@@ -1987,10 +1987,18 @@
 		_rc_conf_loaded=true
 	fi
 
-	# If a service name was specified, attempt to load
-	# service-specific configuration
+	# If a service name was specified, load any default configuration from
+	# /etc/defaults/rc.conf.d, then attempt to load user overrides from
+	# /etc/rc.conf.d and local startup dirs.
 	if [ -n "$_name" ] ; then
 		_loaded_services="${_loaded_services} ${_name}"
+
+		local _default_d="/etc/defaults/rc.conf.d/$_name"
+		if [ -f "$_default_d" ]; then
+			debug "Sourcing $_default_d"
+			$_dot "$_default_d"
+		fi
+
 		for _d in /etc ${local_startup}; do
 			_d=${_d%/rc.d}
 			if [ -f ${_d}/rc.conf.d/"$_name" ]; then