Right: River Correctional Institute, currently under construction in Hertford County, is providing many new jobs in the region.

But inside the icehouse, which is now home to North Carolina's Northeast Partnership, the pace is more like that of your average beehive. In one conference room, a gathering of county managers takes place. Down the hall, the Partnership's Education Task Force kicks around a few ideas on improving workforce development in the region. Neatly starched board members trickle in for their regular meeting. Guests gather in the kitchen to nibble fried chicken and sip sweet tea. Staff members buzz about with agenda packages and phone messages.

It is a charming contrast in this land of contrasts.

To explore the 16 counties comprising North Carolina's Northeast region is to gaze upon gems of American history — and see the workings of a tourism economy as contemporary and well managed as any in the nation. It means dropping in to 18th century fishing villages and low-tech mill towns — and visiting cutting-edge manufacturing sites poised to flourish in the modern economy. It includes innovative homegrown firms emerging against the backdrop of 200-hundred-year-old cotton, soybean and peanut farms. Steeped in traditions of quiet self-reliance, it is a region reaching out to other continents. It is in myriad ways a place where Old South meets New.

“It's a new day here,” beams Vann Rogerson, a regional development official with the N.C. Department of Commerce who serves a dual role as the Partnership's marketing director. Rogerson and others here see the Northeast, traditionally one of the state's poorest regions, as an awakening giant that is only now beginning to realize its potential as a destination for business, industry, retirees and tourists of all varieties. “When you consider our slogan `Discover the Difference,' it's more appropriate than ever.”

Leading the way have been dramatic improvements in infrastructure. Recent upgrades to U.S. Highway 64, in particular, have opened up the Northeast to millions of visitors from Raleigh and other Piedmont cities who in the past could zip down to the South Carolina coast more readily than they could reach the Outer Banks. Whereas the trek to most northeastern attractions was once a Jobian challenge, motorists now enjoy far speedier passage from eastern Wake County to Williamston, with plans for ultimate four-laning all the way to Manteo. Much the same can be said of U.S. Highway 17, which winds through the region from southeastern Virginia, eventually bisecting the U.S. 64 corridor.

Tourists won't be the only ones who find it easier to access the region. “With the transportation upgrades in place, we're now in place for new projects in the distribution industry,” says Rogerson. A major effort to channel natural gas into the region similarly positions the Northeast to attract firms that previously had no choice but to look elsewhere.

“Planning for the First Flight Centennial is prompting upgrades to our regional airports, which will also make us more accessible from a business standpoint,” Rogerson points out. The 2003 marking of the Wright Brothers' entry into history is expected to draw aviation enthusiasts to Dare County from around the world, and Rogerson and his colleagues see that as a long-term opportunity to highlight the entire region's appeal. Alone among the state's regional economic development organizations, the Northeast Partnership divides its activities equally between tourism and industrial development activities. The Wright Brothers Centennial illustrates how a single asset can compliment both areas, and it's proof of the synergies that can surface when a diverse assortment of small counties join forces instead of attempting to work in a vacuum.

Thinking outside traditional economic development boxes is a hallmark of the Northeast's programs. Last October, for example, it hosted “Showcase 2000” in Roanoke Rapids. The event offered tourism and economic development officials from across the region a chance to meet with business leaders and chat about what makes their communities special. More than 300 attended the weekend-long gathering, including guests from the N.C. Department of Commerce and other state agencies, site location consultants, business leaders, tour bus operators, business journalists and travel writers.

“We're selling livability to our economic development clients and business opportunities to travel and tourism professionals,” Rogerson says. “They get a sense of the high quality of life here as well as the region's economic development potential.”

There is clearly no overstating the importance of tourism to the region. In 1999, it saw more than $793.5 million in revenue from visitors. Nearly 14,000 in the Northeast are employed in some way by tourism, which churns almost $180 million in annual payroll across the region. The lion's share — more than half — of these benefits go to bustling Dare County, where vacationing families from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and elsewhere routinely shell out as much as $10,000 to rent the palatial homes around Duck and Sanderling. Some of the huge estates accommodate as many as 20 and have become popular venues for family reunions and similar events.

“There are a whole lot of people who'd never see northeastern North Carolina if it weren't for Dare County,” says Charles Shaw, the retired oil company executive currently serving as chairman of the Northeast Partnership. “In many cases, vacationers spending a week on the Outer Banks take day trips elsewhere around the region, bringing additional dollars to places like Elizabeth City, Columbia and Washington.”

Left: Officials of Merced, Calif-based Fineline Industries held a recent ribbon-cutting to mark the start of construction on the company's new boatbuilding plant in Northampton County.

Farther inland, there is a wealth of interesting sights to see. Many involve “eco-tourism” — canoeing, hiking and soaking up an environment that is home to migratory birds, abundant wildlife and a unique array of plants, flowers and trees. There are also many assets in the area of heritage tourism.

Take Halifax County, for example. It is North Carolina's “Cradle of History” and birthplace of the Halifax Resolves, a document considered to be an early incarnation of the Declaration of Independence. Easily accessible to Interstate 95 motorists, the county's rich Colonial past is a draw to thousands of history-starved visitors each year. Similar claims may be made in neighboring Northampton County, where a walking tour of Jackson, its historic county seat, showcases some of North Carolina's best-kept architectural secrets. A few miles east, there is the Hertford County town of Murfreesboro. The picturesque town was the birthplace of both Walter Reed, the army physician who discovered a cure for Yellow Fever, and Richard Gatling, inventor of a rapid-fire weapon that bears his name. Tiny Chowan College, a Baptist institution founded in 1848, is also there, along with a dozen or so buildings from the 18th Century that are well worth seeing.

Heritage tourism is the fastest growing sector of the U.S. travel industry. Economic impact studies have shown that it pulls in more than twice as much personal spending than traditional types of tourism, perhaps owing to the fact that it typically attracts an older, wealthier and better-educated visitor. The region's heritage tourism offerings are poised for a major boost with the introduction of federal legislation this spring to make the Northeast, along with nearby Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties, a National Heritage Area. Such a designation would open up million of dollars of assistance from the U.S. government, support tourism officials here would like to allocate to additional planning, product development and global marketing.

“What we envision are five themes that would highlight just a few counties each,” says Ginny Culpepper, an Edenton-based development officer with the N.C. Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development. “Each would be centered around a `Discovery Center' where visitors would begin before we send them out to experience our heritage first-hand.”

As an example, “Land of Firsts” would showcase Currituck, Dare, Hyde and Tyrrell counties. “Cradle of the Colony” would tie together historic attractions in Camden, Chowan, Gates, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties. Visitors to Bertie, Martin and Washington counties would be guided along a “Rivers of Charm” tour. Beaufort County and it neighbors to the south would be home to a “Legendary Maritime” theme. “Gateway to Independence” would be the primary hook for heritage tourists in Halifax, Hertford and Northampton counties.

“There is a new emphasis in rural development on the value of tourism,” says U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton, who is sponsoring the legislation. Heritage tourism, she says, is a form of sharing the region's unique resources with others in a manner that is economically beneficial, much the same way visitors flock to the state's beaches and ski resorts. “We're certainly not the first to think up this idea,” continues Rep. Clayton, whose district includes much of the Northeast. She points to existing National Heritage Corridors in Pennsylvania and Tennessee as examples of what her legislation will aim toward for northeastern North Carolina. “We're hopeful about passage,” she says, though she is cautious about speculating on how much federal cash might ultimately be made available to the region.

Much of Rep. Clayton's time in Washington is spent providing leadership on agricultural issues. Farming continues to provide a livelihood for thousands in the region, though low prices for corn, soybeans, peanuts and cotton in recent years, along with upheaval in the tobacco industry, have made it difficult for many here to hold on to a way of life that dates back to the nation's earliest times. On this day, Rep. Clayton and other leaders gather with local farmers in a conference room at the Senator Bob Martin Eastern Agricultural Center in Williamston to discuss the impact of new trade agreements and federal crop support policies upon local agribusiness. The sprawling center was constructed in the late-1990s on a 168-acre site. It includes state-of-the-art equine facilities and a cathedral-like arena that can seat as many as 2,400 for horse shows, rodeos, concerts and other events. A new hotel and eating establishments are springing up nearby.

But the Northeast is about more than tourism and agriculture. In recent years the region has hit the radar screen of a broad array of industries. Since 1996, nearly $1.9 billion in new investment have flowed into the Northeast from new and expanding firms. More important have been the 6,353 new jobs that have been created in that time, a figure especially important when you consider the estimated 24,000 here who must commute to jobs outside the region. “The most recent data we have right now show we've got about 11,000 in the region who work in Virginia,” the Partnership's Rogerson says.

Since its founding in 1994, much of the focus of the Northeast Partnership has been to transform the region into something more than simply a bedroom community for the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area.

The availability of labor is thus a selling point when site selection professionals come calling. Nor do development officials disguise the fact that the region's economic distress makes firms settling here eligible for the juiciest incentives available under the state's William S. Lee Act. Eleven of its 16 counties fall into the “Tier One” category — the state's highest priority out of five. None rank wealthier than a “Tier Three,” according the Lee Act, which extends down-stream tax credits to companies bringing in a dozen or more new jobs.

The availability of adequate labor and Bill Lee Act credits played a part in the 1998 decision by Charlotte-based Nucor Steel to erect a $300 million steel recycling mill near Winton. There's little doubt that the Nucor mega-win was a pivotal moment for the region. With it have come 350 new jobs paying wages that dwarf the county average — and more. Three new companies have since located near the site to support the plant. Heckett MultiServ, a Pennsylvania-based slag processor, is spending $10 million in building a presence near the Nucor site. The company — a unit of Harsco Corp., a $2 billion international services and products company — is employing an initial workforce of 24, with a dozen more jobs anticipated in the future. Also supporting the plant is Malvern, Penn.-based MG Industries, a division of Germany's Messer Group. The producer of oxygen and other gas products is sinking $15.5 million into Hertford County, bringing in an initial workforce of two. Also working with Nucor is Marine Terminals, a South Carolina company that is handling the mill's docking and port facilities. With it have come an added $4 million in investment and 18 full-time employees.

“Basically, Nucor is only interested in performing its core function of recycling steel,” says Bill Early, executive director of Hertford County's Economic Development Commission. “That, of course, opens the door to an array of contractors to provide all the support services they need.”

Nucor, the nation's largest steel recycler, was no doubt impressed with the region's labor force. Initially, more than 5,000 applied for positions at the mill, of which, company officials say, more than 1,700 were considered qualified. The result was far and above the company's experience elsewhere around the United States. And Hertford County's central location between New Jersey and Florida, both states rich in scrap steel, was another important factor in its selection, Early says, and the county's proximity to good highways, rail service and navigable waterways also played a part.

The region's ideal mid-Atlantic location was behind another big win for Hertford County. On a 257-acre tract just west of Winton sits the handsome River Correction Institute being ramped up by Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections, the huge private operator of federal correctional facilities. Officials of the firm, a subsidiary of the Wackenhut Corp., could consider only sites within a 300-mile radius of Washington, D.C., in order to gain approval from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which gave the green light to the project last March.

The $60 million facility will house at least 1,200 low-security federal inmates and bring about 300 new jobs to Hertford County, where an alarming one in four live at or below the poverty line. “The Wackenhut payroll is projected to be $12.3 million,” says Early. “These will include positions in food service, medical and dental care, rehabilitation, counseling and training.”

Local resistance to the prison was minimal, Early says, largely due to the fact that most inmates housed there will be non-violent offenders who, upon their release, they will be returned to their home communities, not placed on the streets of the county.

The region's accessibility — this time to millions of U.S. consumers — was also what brought Reser's Fine Foods to nearby Halifax County. Last year, the Oregon-based maker of more than 200 types of pre-packaged potato, macaroni, chicken and tuna salad products selected a 26-acre site at the Halifax Industrial Center, just off I-95, for a new manufacturing and distribution facility. “They're going to distribute product up and down the Eastern Seaboard from here,” says L.C. “Rocky” Lane, executive director of the Halifax Development Commission. The company, which previously based these operations in Lynchburg, Va., is investing $20 million in constructing the 180,000-square-foot center and creating more than 320 new jobs during the first phase alone.

Much the same can be said in the case of Fineline Industries' recent selection of Northampton County. Executives with the Merced, Calif.- based firm, which builds high-end ski boats, were drawn to a dormant zipper factory in the town of Woodland after spending two years searching for a location from which to base their East Coast operations. All that was lacking in Woodland was a navigable body of water to test out the company's product. So local development leaders joined Fineline in constructing a small lake running across the length of the property.

“You might say we in northeastern North Carolina have learned the art of innovation,” says Gary Brown, executive director of the Northampton County Economic Development Commission, with a laugh.

Though the over-arching concern of Fineline officials was that an adequate supply of qualified labor be available, other considerations played a part. “Our attraction to northeastern North Carolina also centered around the availability of an existing building that had enough land to accommodate future growth,” says Richard Lee, founder and president of Fineline. The 25-year-old company enjoys annual unit sales in the area of 1,500 on its boats, which retail for $25,000 to $45,000. “And the aggressive support we received from the county and the regional partnership was certainly key.”

Boatbuilding is nothing new in the region. In tiny Chowan County, the industry employs upward of 350. About 80 of them work at Regulator Marine, a small homegrown firm that has been here since 1988.

“It's unmistakably the quality of life here,” says Joan Maxwell, the company's vice-president, when asked about the appeal of the county as a place to live and work. The company, which manufactures seagoing recreational fishing boats, might have settled anywhere. But for Maxwell, it was the long list of community assets that led her and husband Owen to put down stakes in Edenton.

“There's an old-fashioned soda fountain downtown where all the kids gather after school every day,” Maxwell says. “How many communities can still say that?”

In 1999, Regulator underwent a major expansion, doubling its space and workforce. “Because there simply aren't people with boatbuilding skills walking the streets of Edenton looking for jobs, we had to come up with some way of selecting and training unskilled people,” says Maxwell. “So our community college — College of the Albemarle — helped us take people with virtually no skills and, in six months time, give them a trade.”

A native of nearby Hyde County, Maxwell has seen her share of changes in the region. Some — like high-speed Internet access — aren't coming quickly enough. Others, such as the steady disappearance of the family farm, have her worried. But on the core issues of leadership and collaboration, she feels the Northeast is making great strides.

“People's attitudes about regionalism and working together have certainly changed,” she says. “Most here now realize the need to grow, and there is an awareness that there is a larger world out there.”

Thinking globally is at the heart of a new regional initiative that seeks to extend the Northeast's presence abroad. “We're now seeing more and more foreign investment into the region, especially from German firms,” says Art Keeney, president of East Carolina Bank and chairman of the Partnership's new International Affairs Task Force. “This offers a tremendous marketing opportunity for us.”

Now only just coming together, Keeney's task force will set its initial sights on Europe, leveraging existing N.C. Department of Commerce contacts and organization there. Later, it plans to reach out elsewhere — Latin America, Asia and the Pacific Basin, for example. “Our focus will be more on the commerce and industry side,” Keeney says, “but we'll also look at supporting our tourism group with some international promotion.”

The international task force is one of several working groups set up over the past year by the Partnership to focus on specific challenges and opportunities facing the Northeast. Others have been established to examine education and training issues, agriculture and technology infrastructure. Also meeting regularly is the Partnership's Retirement Task Force, which is charged with promoting the region as a residential destination for newly minted retirees from elsewhere. The latter initiative was the brainchild of the Partnership's venerable Chairman Shaw, who shows no sign of retiring in any conventional sense anytime soon.

“This region is finally getting the attention it's always deserved,” he says. “But we've got more to do — a lot more work to do.”

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