Rural East losing people

Ten Eastern counties are among 15 in the state that lost population from 2005 to 2006, new estimates show

SWAN QUARTER -- Jobs at the state prison are all that separate many in this remote Eastern North Carolina community from poverty. The docks, once bustling with commercial fishermen, sit all but empty. Abandoned homes dot the roadsides.

Hyde County, battered by hurricanes and the decline of farming and fishing, has lost nearly 8 percent of its population since 2000.

Census estimates being released today show that people continue to flee rural Eastern North Carolina, even as newcomers pour into the state, settling mainly in urban centers around Charlotte and the Triangle.

Hyde was one of 15 rural counties that lost population between July 2005 and July 2006. During the same period, the state's other 85 counties added nearly 185,000 new residents.

Of the counties that lost population, a dozen had fewer people than in 2000. Ten of the 12 are in Eastern North Carolina.

"We keep hoping things are going to get better, but it hasn't happened," said Claudia Cahoon, a Hyde County native who works nights at Hyde Correctional Center and runs a struggling seafood business during the day. "You've got to love it to stay here."

Eastern North Carolina leaders say the biggest challenges lie ahead for counties that are too far from the coast to attract tourists and retirees and too far from urban centers to attract commuters. Without the textile plants and small tobacco farms that once fueled their economies, some say, there are few prospects for growth.

"It looks like the gap between the haves and the have-nots is getting wider," said Mack Simpson, associate director of East Carolina University's Regional Development Institute. "People are at a loss for what to do."

The state's efforts to pump up those areas with projects such as the Global TransPark, where taxpayers have spent $140 million to attract industry to an area around the Kinston airport in Lenoir County, have generated little interest from businesses. Lenoir lost population again in 2006 for the fourth year in a row.

The young want out

In many parts of Eastern North Carolina, young people are heading off to college and never returning.

Cori Hines, an East Carolina University senior, said Wednesday that he has no plans to return to his Greene County hometown after graduation. He said the job market, not to mention the social scene, is better in Charlotte or the Triangle. He wants a community with greenways, good shopping and a cosmopolitan vibe.

"I mean, I'm a young guy," said Hines, 24. "I'm looking for an area that has a little bit more to offer."

But in some rural counties, the picture is getting brighter.

Along the state's inner coastline, recently discovered by out-of-state retirees and vacationers, some counties have stemmed declining population numbers. And others that made the list of shrinking counties are on their way to reversing the trend.

Bertie County, for example, has lost more than 3 percent of its population since 2000, the census estimates show. But a development of 1,200 luxury homes is in the works, and several others are planned. The famous golfer Arnold Palmer is building a golf course community where houses will sell for up to $400,000. County officials have said they expect to double their tax base in the next few years.

And Halifax County, which has lost residents every year since 2002, recently became the home of a world-class bird refuge and a giant music venue developed by Dolly Parton's brother. Both are expected to draw visitors from all over the East Coast.

Pulling in tourists

Other rural counties are starting programs to nurture entrepreneurs and draw tourists to their rivers, woods and historic sites. Some say that once those efforts take root, rural North Carolina's population will stabilize.

"There is incredible potential in the eastern part of the state," said Robin Pulver of the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.

N.C. State University demographer Steve Lilley said he doesn't see the state's rural counties dwindling to vast uninhabited tracts, which has happened in parts of the Midwest. He said every county in North Carolina benefits from the appeal of lakes and rivers, a good road system and a location within a few hours of major population centers.

But in Hyde County, which has seen the state's most dramatic population loss, the promise of more prosperous times often rings hollow.

Cahoon, who owns the seafood business, has put her waterfront building up for sale even though she doesn't want to let it go. She said the fleet of 35 fishermen from whom she once bought crabs and oysters has shrunk to five.

Outside her door, Swan Quarter's tiny business district is dominated by abandoned trailers, closed shops and a dilapidated motel. A few condos are planned, but they are vacation spots for fishermen, not homes for new residents.

Gray Hopkins, who owns a hardware store where fan belts and pliers hang on the wall, said his two children moved away years ago, one to Raleigh and one to Illinois. And in 2003, after spending a night in their attic hiding from Hurricane Isabel's floodwaters, his sister and brother-in-law left, too.

"They came down out of the attic," Hopkins said, "and moved to Charlotte."

(Staff researcher Paulette Stiles contributed to this report.)