Monday, February 21, 2005

Princeville: back from the brink


Princeville, N.C., Sept. 1999 (U.S. Army)

After the destruction of Hurricane Floyd in 1999, residents of Princeville did a courageous thing: they refused a federal buyout. Then they worked hard to make sure it was the right decision.



Princeville Town Hall

The bet paid off. A thriving Princeville celebrated its 120th anniversary on Feb. 17. Jonathan Tilove, a Newhouse reporter about whom I've written before, came down and wrote a really nice story about it:

In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd brought what they call the Great Flood to this poor little town along the banks of the Tar River. For 10 days Princeville, the nation's first town chartered by blacks, was under water. Even the ancestors, it seemed, were bailing out--161 caskets dislodged from their final resting place were floating in eerie eddies.

More . . .

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