PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



areas of Hyde County, which 

 historically "has been considered 

 one of the poorest counties within 

 the state of North Carolina," 

 according to the report. Until the 

 tourism industry developed, most 

 people fished, farmed or operated 

 hunting businesses for a living. 



"The oral history interviews are 

 in no way expected to encompass all 

 views regarding the communities of 

 Hyde County," wrote Habtes. "They 

 are, however, like all aspects of this 

 report, expected to provide a 

 snapshot of the often complicated 

 role of tourism in coastal areas." 



Residents recognize their heritage in 

 Hyde County as important and want to keep 

 local traditions, such as making ponebread 

 that is sweetened with molasses. 



"If I go to a church bazaar here, I look 

 for ponebread," says merchant R.S. Spencer. 

 "But you go 50 miles from here either way, 

 and you won't see ponebread, and you either 

 like it or you don't." 



"And that's just one of the values, and 

 there are things from the past that we need to 

 preserve, and I think that we as citizens today 

 have the responsibility to preserve the past, to 

 write it down, to tell it to our children and 

 grandchildren," adds Spencer. "But that 

 doesn't mean we want to go back to using 

 ringer washers and horseback instead of 

 cars." 



RESIDENTS' VIEWS 



The residents also are satisfied with 

 living in a remote location and the standard of 

 living, according to the report. 



"We make out just fine, and we love 

 how we live," says Gwen Newman, whose 

 family income is based on commercial 

 fishing. "So we don't need a new Mercedes 

 in the driveway. We're happy." 



The group voices concerns about 

 outsiders buying property traditionally used 

 by hunters, thus making the recreational 

 activity unaffordable for many. 



Mac Gibbs, a North Carolina Coopera- 

 tive Extension agent, says that he doesn't 



Under the direction of program director William Stott, Capstone 

 interns spend a semester at the Albemarle Field Site in Manteo. 



have the money to use the hunting areas 

 bought by nonresidents. 



Hunting has gotten into such "big 

 money that the local people can't afford to do 

 it," says Gibbs. "If you don't own a piece of 

 land that you can hunt on, then you won't 

 hunt here. So you go somewhere else to 

 hunt." 



To maintain the unique character and 

 valued traditions in Hyde County, the 

 residents feel that the community leaders 

 need to work together to create a strong 

 infrastructure. 



"I think that if we don't do something 

 about getting some zoning laws and 

 regulations in here, and we don't have a 

 plan," then somebody with money will come 

 and do what they want, says Margie Brooks, 

 executive director of the Hyde County 

 Chamber of Commerce. "And maybe they'll 

 turn it into another Orlando, Florida, and we 

 don't want that." 



OTHER CAPSTONE PROJECTS 



In addition to Habtes' tourism project, 

 Capstone students tackled a variety of topics 

 related to water in the Albemarle region — 

 from a blue crab enhancement program and 

 habitat studies at Jockey's Ridge State Park 

 to a septic health initiative with the Town of 

 Nags Head and an oral history of charter boat 

 captains at Oregon Inlet. 



"I met some incredible people in the 

 fishing community," says UNC-CH student 



Jason Kemp. "The charter boat 

 captains are so hard working and 

 committed. There is a sense of 

 fraternity that exists along with the 

 competition for fish. Someone's 

 boat burned down, and everyone 

 passed around a hat to help the 

 fisherman get back on his feet." 



Kemp also got a glimpse into 

 the captains' home lives. 



"Some wives got up at 3:30 in 

 the morning to fix their husbands' 

 breakfast and lunch," says Kemp. 

 "They were often part of the 

 business and also took care of the 

 home." 



For a project on pelagic birds, Tiffany 

 Kiernan ventured on a boat deep into the Gulf 

 Stream. 



"It was fun," says Kiernan. "I used 

 binoculars, an official counter and head- 

 phones to collect data on seasonal migration 

 of sea birds. It was a really rewarding 

 opportunity. I had the chance to experience 

 pelagic birding as a tourist and as a scientist. I 

 learned how to identify different seabirds and 

 served as the official counter for one trip, 

 recording the data on the seasonal variation of 

 seabirds." 



To deepen students' understanding of 

 the Albemarle region, the students trekked on 

 weekly field trips to a variety of places, 

 including the Great Dismal Swamp and the 

 Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. 



"It is great to see things in the open," 

 says Habtes. "I walked in deep water through 

 the Alligator National Wildlife Refuge. It 

 took me outside my comfort zone. I even 

 heard wolves howling." 



Habtes says he benefited in many ways 

 from the program. 



"It was a new experience to take classes 

 in a small setting and have such direct access 

 to professors," he says. "I also learned what it 

 is like to be in the working world." □ 



For more information about the 

 Capstone project, call 919/966-9922, 

 e-mail cep@unc.edu or visit the Web: 

 www.cep.unc.edu. 



22 SPRING 2003 



