PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



A, 



Capstone Students 

 Experience Diversity 

 of Albemarle Region 



By Ann Green • Photographs by Michael Halminski 



a youngster, Sennai 

 Habtes listened to his mother spin 

 Caribbean folk stories about 

 imaginary characters — from a 

 headless crab to a hog that is 

 transformed into a man. 



After hearing such tales in his 

 native St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin 

 Islands, Habtes developed an 

 "appreciation for oral history and 

 other peoples' points of view." 



"I am naturally interested in 

 what people have to say," says 

 Habtes, a senior at the University of 

 North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "This 

 comes from my mother. Her stories 

 are primarily folk stories about 

 characters that take on human 

 characteristics. I am attracted to 

 these stories because they often 

 have hidden meanings." 



As an intern at the Albemarle 

 Ecological Field Site in Manteo for 

 UNC-Chapel Hill's Carolina 

 Environmental Program (Capstone), 

 Habtes used his interviewing skills 

 to conduct a study about how 

 tourism has affected residents' lives 

 in coastal Hyde County. 



Habtes was one of nine 

 Capstone interns who spent a 

 semester in residence at the Albemarle Field 

 Site. Through the program initiated in 2001 , 

 the UNC-CH undergraduates develop an 

 appreciation of both the natural and cultural 



TOP: Sennai Habtes interviews R.S. Spencer 

 about the impact of tourism on Hyde County. 

 BOTOM: R.S. Spencer lias developed a deep appreciation 

 for the heritage in Hyde County. 



diversity of northeastern North Carolina. by 



"The program is great because it helps 

 students get involved in the real world where En 

 people are making a living and also are trying 



to protect the environment," says 

 North Carolina Sea Grant extension 

 director and coastal tourism 

 specialist Jack Thigpen. "You have 

 to have a balance between economic 

 development and conserving nature." 



OR/IL HISTORY 

 INTERVIEWS 



Under the direction of Thigpen, 

 Habtes interviewed five residents of 

 rural Hyde County, including a local 

 merchant, chamber of commerce 

 director, agricultural extension agent, 

 fisher's wife and retired bank 

 president. 



The report also highlights the 

 economic impact of tourism in 

 coastal N.C. counties. 



"For all coastal counties except 

 Camden, there has been an increase 

 in revenue from tourism," the report 

 says. Hyde County's annual wages 

 paid from tourism-based services 

 jumped 136 percent from 1993 to 

 2000, according to the North 

 Carolina Employment Security 

 Commission. However, the largest 

 increase in annual wages for tourism 

 services was in Currituck County, 

 with a 351 percent increase, followed 

 Dare County, with 319 percent. 



Habtes conducted the interviews in 

 gelhard, Swan Quarter and surrounding 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 21 



