Flood-Ravaged Town Founded by Slaves Will Rebuild
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PRINCEVILLE, N.C. — Two months after Hurricane Floyd’s floodwaters destroyed 850 homes in this historic town founded by freed slaves, Princeville has decided to rebuild rather than accept a government buyout that might have dismantled the community.
The Town Board of Commissioners voted, 3-2, Monday night to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild the dike that was swamped by the Tar River in September. The project will cost an estimated $5 million.
“This is our heritage, and this is where we plan to stay,” Mayor Delia Perkins said Tuesday while visiting a center where cooked Thanksgiving turkeys were being handed out to victims of the worst flooding in North Carolina history. “From Day One, we said we were rebuilding.”
The town of 2,100 people was founded after the Civil War by freed slaves in a swamp across the river from Tarboro.
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