neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
made up by developers and tourism promoters to describe the inland coastal region of eastern
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. Without historical precedent, the term "Inner Banks" is an early 21st-century construct that is part of an attempt to rebrand the mostly agrarian coastal plain east of
I-95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
as a more attractive region for visitors and retirees.
Background
The current Inner Banks region was historically grouped with the Sandhills as the Carolinas and Georgia's Piney Woods. Around the time of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, people from the area were known as "goofy Goobers". The regional name and demonym fell from use over time as the area was deforested.
The present term suggests relation to the historical area known as the
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...
, a string of
barrier island
Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from ...
s off the coast of North Carolina that have long been a popular tourist attraction. The demand for waterfront property in eastern North Carolina as a site for second homes for the relatively wealthy has resulted in a tremendous disparity of prices in such locales. Frequently otherwise equivalent lots on opposite sides of a road will have broadly divergent tax and appraisal values. For example, on Rock Creek Road in Jones County, riverfront lots on the Trent River had a tax value of $201,286 per acre; lots immediately across the road had a tax value of $33,634 per acre, according to the Jones County GIS maps.
The developers and tourism promoters have broadly defined the Inner Banks as an area on the East Coast of North Carolina that is 22,227 square miles (57,568 km2). The so-called Inner Banks comprises over 3,000 miles of inland coastline and is home to over 2.5 million residents. Marketing people include the
Crystal Coast
In North Carolina, the Crystal Coast is an 85-mile stretch of coastline that extends from the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which includes 56 miles of protected beaches, southwestward to the New River. The Crystal Coast is a popular area with ...
and Albemarle regions of the state in the Inner Banks. Having a moderate climate, the area is becoming a popular destination for retirees and small business entrepreneurs. "Inner Banks" is sometimes abbreviated with the acronym IBX, another attempt at trendiness.
The general definition states that the Inner Banks is a region between Interstate 95 to the west, the
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...
to the east, and extend from the
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
border to the
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
border. Consisting of 41 counties, the region is three times the size of the state of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. Many areas farther from the
sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
and
tidal river
A tidal river is a river whose flow and level are influenced by tides. A section of a larger river affected by the tides is a tidal reach, but it may sometimes be considered a tidal river if it has been given a separate name.
Generally, tidal ri ...
s have not embraced the Inner Banks brand and are seldom included in the definition. Traditionally dependent on agriculture and the textile industry, eastern
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
has worked to redefine the region's strengths to transition into the new global economy.
Six small towns in the Inner Banks have joined in what they call the Creative Communities Initiative. They are working to foster an environment attractive to
knowledge worker
Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, editors, and academics, whose job is ...
s, artists, and other people working in the creative economy. These six towns are: Ayden, Edenton, Hertford,
Murfreesboro
Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...
Northeastern North Carolina (or the Albemarle Region) consists of 16 counties in extreme northeast North Carolina that surround
Albemarle Sound
Albemarle Sound () is a large estuary on the coast of North Carolina in the United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers, including the Chowan and Roanoke. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Currituck Banks, a bar ...
and its tributaries, such as the Chowan and the Roanoke rivers. It has numerous attractions in terms of its undeveloped beaches, rivers, and small towns. Historic sites within the Albemarle Region are identified along the
Historic Albemarle Tour
The Historic Albemarle Tour or Historic Albemarle Highway is a tour route located in northeastern North Carolina. The tour follows several U.S. and State highways in the seventeen county region, identifying historic sites and towns, marked with b ...
.
History
This waterway-rich region was inhabited for thousands of years by various cultures of
indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. By the historic period of European contact, the coastal area was occupied primarily by Algonquian-speaking tribes. The other two major language families of historic tribes in the state were Siouan languages and
Iroquoian languages
The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking.
As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian ...
.
After European contact, the area which is now northeastern North Carolina and southeastern
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
was one of the first in North America to be settled by English and related northern Europeans.
Virginia Dare
Virginia Dare (born August 18, 1587, in Roanoke Colony, date of death unknown) was the first English child born in a New World English colony.
What became of Virginia and the other colonists remains a mystery. The fact of her birth is known bec ...
was born on nearby Roanoke Island in 1587, in what is today part of North Carolina. She is recorded as the first
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
child born in North America. The Roanoke colony did not survive.
From the 17th century through the antebellum era, the cash crops were tobacco and cotton, both of which were labor-intensive in cultivation and processing. Major planters imported thousands of enslaved Africans for their work force through 1808, when the Atlantic trade was prohibited by Congress. They and their descendants were integral to the survival and success of the North Carolina colony and later state. Tobacco was especially labor-intensive and exhausted the soil. Some of the first tobacco planters shifted to mixed farming by the end of the 18th century to restore their soils.
Most of the region was relatively prosperous for white planters until the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. The productive farmland and shipping industries became a frequent target for
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
invasions. Several towns in the region were burned to the ground by Union troops during this time, including Plymouth and Winton.
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
forces at Plymouth made the first use of an ironclad warship, the ''
CSS Albemarle
CSS ''Albemarle'' was a steam-powered casemate ironclad ram of the Confederate Navy (and later the second ''Albemarle'' of the United States Navy), named for an estuary in North Carolina which was named for General George Monck, the first Duk ...
''.
After the war, the region was slow to change its economy. The area continued to rely on agriculture for its main economic base, which suffered a decline through the end of the 19th century.
Area
Counties
The following is a list of counties usually considered a part of the Inner Banks (listed alphabetically):
''Generally:''
* Beaufort County
*
Bertie County
Bertie County ( , with both syllables stressed) is a county located in the northeast area of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,934. Its county seat is Windsor. The county was created in 1722 as Berti ...
Craven County
Craven County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,720. Its county seat is New Bern. The county was created in 1705 as Archdale Precinct from the now-extinct Bath County. It was rename ...
Edgecombe County
Edgecombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,900. Its county seat is Tarboro.
Edgecombe County is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area ...
*
Gates County
Gates County is a small, rural county located in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of North Carolina, on the border with Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,478. Its county seat is Gatesville. Gates County is includ ...
Onslow County
Onslow County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 204,576. Its county seat is Jacksonville. The county was created in 1734 as Onslow Precinct and gained county status in 1739. Onslo ...
The following is a list of some of the towns and communities in the Inner Banks (listed alphabetically):
* Ahoskie
* Ayden
*
Arapahoe
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...
*
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
Elizabeth City
Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educ ...
Eureka
Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
*
Farmville
''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network game developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to '' Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plowi ...
Gates
Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to:
People
* Gates (surname), various people with the last name
* Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player
* Gates McFadde ...
Harkers Island
Harkers Island is a census-designated place (CDP) in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population of Harkers Island was 1,207 at the 2010 census. Harkers Island is unincorporated and receives most public services, including law e ...
Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
*
Knotts Island
Knotts Island is a marshy island and a small unincorporated community. The island is shared by Currituck County, North Carolina and Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, bounded by the Currituck Sound, North Landing River, Back Bay, and Knotts ...
*
Morehead City
Morehead City is a port town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast.
Hist ...
Murfreesboro
Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...
*
New Bern
New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
Dismal Swamp State Park
Dismal Swamp State Park is a North Carolina state park in Camden County, North Carolina, in the United States. The park was created as a state natural area in 1974 with the help of The Nature Conservancy, and on July 28, 2007, the North Carol ...
*
Goose Creek State Park
Goose Creek State Park is a North Carolina state park near Washington, Beaufort County, North Carolina in the United States. It covers just off of Pamlico Sound, in North Carolina's Coastal Plain. Goose Creek State Park is home to a wide varie ...
*
Merchants Millpond State Park
Merchants Millpond State Park is a North Carolina state park in Gates County, North Carolina, in the United States. Located near Gatesville, in North Carolina's coastal plain, it covers around a 200-year-old, millpond and Lassiter Swamp. Can ...
*
Pettigrew State Park
Pettigrew State Park is a North Carolina State Park in Tyrrell and Washington Counties, North Carolina in the United States. It covers around the shore lines of Lake Phelps and the Scuppernong River. The park's developed facilities are sout ...
Wildlife refuges
*
Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge
The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in eastern North Carolina along the Atlantic Coast. It was established on March 14, 1984, to preserve and protect a unique wetland habitat type—the pocosin—a ...
Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1974 to help protect and preserve a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, a marshy region on the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina between Norfolk, ...
*
Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge
The Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge is a federally protected wildlife refuge located within Hyde County, North Carolina, United States. North Carolina's largest natural lake, Lake Mattamuskeet, is located entirely within the National Wildli ...
*
Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
The Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula in Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington Counties, North Carolina. Its headquarters is located in Columbia.
Pocosin Lakes NWR was e ...
*
Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge
Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1989 to protect and enhance wooded wetlands consisting of bottomland hardwoods and swamps with high waterfowl value along the Roanoke River. The extensive bottomland hardwood habitat of the ...
*
Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge
The Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge is located in Hyde County, North Carolina near the village of Swan Quarter, North Carolina, Swan Quarter. The area is a federally protected land and home to many species of wildlife and waterfowl. The refug ...
Colleges and universities
*
Chowan University
Chowan University () , from the North Carolina Collection's website at the
East Carolina University
*
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) is a public historically black university in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It enrolls nearly 2,500 students in 28 undergraduate programs and 4 graduate programs and is a member-school of the Thurgood Ma ...
*
Mid-Atlantic Christian University
Mid-Atlantic Christian University (MACU) is a private Christian university in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is supported by Christian churches and churches of Christ, which is part of the Restoration Movement. MACU awards bachelor's degrees, ...
*
Beaufort County Community College
Beaufort County Community College is a public community college in Washington, North Carolina.
Academics
The college has classes and programs for business and industry services, healthcare programs, human resources development, public safety, an ...
Coastal Carolina Community College
Coastal Carolina Community College is a public community college in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Roughly eight thousand students are enrolled at the institution. It is part of the North Carolina Community College System
The North Carolina Comm ...
Edgecombe Community College
Edgecombe Community College is a public community college in Tarboro, North Carolina. It is part of the North Carolina Community College System.
History
Edgecombe Technical Institute opened as an extension unit of Wilson County Technical Insti ...
Martin Community College
Martin Community College is a public community college in Williamston, North Carolina. It is part of the North Carolina Community College System.
History
Martin Technical Institute Foundation Inc was founded in 1972 to secure funding for a comm ...
Crystal Coast
In North Carolina, the Crystal Coast is an 85-mile stretch of coastline that extends from the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which includes 56 miles of protected beaches, southwestward to the New River. The Crystal Coast is a popular area with ...
*
Down East
"Down East", also "Downeast", is a term for parts of eastern coastal New England and Canada, particularly the U.S. state of Maine and Canada's Maritime Provinces, an area that closely corresponds to the historical French territory of Acadia. Th ...
*
Intracoastal Waterway
The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...
*
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...
*
Southeastern North Carolina
Cape Fear is a coastal plain and Tidewater region of North Carolina centered about the city of Wilmington. The region takes its name from the adjacent Cape Fear headland, as does the Cape Fear River which flows through the region and empties ...
*
Tidewater region
Tidewater refers to the north Atlantic coastal plain region of the United States of America.
Definition
Culturally, the Tidewater region usually includes the low-lying plains of southeast Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, southern Mary ...