Talk:Inner Banks

Notability and verifiability

The term "Inner banks" properly refers to shorelines of the estuaries of Eastern North Carolina and certainly does not extend as far west as I-95, which is what the article claims. As used in this article the term is geographically inaccurate and, as mentioned in the note about "Foundation for Renewal for Eastern NC" below, simply a bit of political fluff. Delete it! --RL Mullen

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This article presently offers no notability or verifiability (i.e. sources) for this term. I am also concerned by the trademark tags on the article (suggesting possible spam) as well as the fact that User:Kmills and User:70.184.189.14 are adding this term to any article in the "Inner Banks" area. Metros232 17:24, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I see that references were added, but we need outside sources for this. We need independent sources to prove its notability and use outside this organization. Metros232 17:52, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

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The Foundation of Renewal for Eastern North Carolina (FoR ENC) is a privately owned, nonprofit economic development firm in eastern North Carolina that was established in 2002 to aid the economically challenged region transition into the new global economy since the region was traditionally dependent on tobacco and other forms of agriculture and textile. FoR ENC is designated as the Eastern North Carolina Film Commission by the state of North Carolina and works with the communities in the region to promote sustainable economic growth. Towns in the region are adopting the IBX brand to promote themselves, see http://www.visitwashingtonnc.com/

Also, the NC Department of Commerce has adopted the IBX logo and uses it in many of their publications. Both North Carolina Senators Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr and three NC Representatives have endorsed the IBX Brand.

Two award winning documentary films have been made about the Inner Banks: Cruising Carolina and Planting the Seeds of a New Economy. See http://www.cruisingcarolina.com/

See http://www.newsobserver.com/1233/ to learn more about the Inner Banks in the news from North Carolina's premier newspaper.--Kevin R Mills 18:51, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

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U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole: “Each and every town and county in Eastern North Carolina has something unique to offer…If the communities of (the East) were to unite in this effort—the IBX-Inner Banks branding initiative—the region’s citizens can create an evolution in the economy and make the entire region stronger...FoR ENC has shown that it is dedicated to ensuring that Eastern North Carolina can compete with the bigger, more established brands and bring new investment, new energy, new commitment to the region.”

U.S. Senator Richard Burr: “The communities in (ENC) are already intertwined economically, culturally, and socially…FoR ENC’s concept to market these disparate parts as a whole—the Inner Banks—would help create cohesion that would attract investment…I applaud the efforts and successes of FoR ENC in bringing enthusiasm, hard work, and a spirit of entrepreneurship to the region.”

U.S. Congressman Walter B. Jones: “”FoR ENC has worked diligently to bring a fresh spirit of entrepreneurship to Eastern North Carolina…If these communities (in ENC) merge into a region and brand and market themselves, they can incite investment and development of travel and tourism venues.”

U.S. Congressman G.K. Butterfield: “It seems to me that if (we) unite as a region—as a brand, the Inner Banks—we can attract investment, develop an array of travel and tourism venues and make the region a destination that can rival any place in the U.S.”

U.S. Congressman Mike McIntyre: “I express my support for the Foundation of Renewal for Eastern North Carolina as it works to brand and market eastern North Carolina through its ‘IBX-Inner Banks’ initiatives.” --Kevin R Mills 14:56, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

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It seems to me that the Outer Banks are called the Outer Banks because they are just that. A land mass stretching from I-95 to the sounds is hardly a bank.

I somewhat agree. I could understand the Inner Banks being places like Washington, NC, Elizabeth City, NC, and Jacksonville, NC, but Fayetteville just seems too far away from a tidal river or a sound to be called a part of the "banks". Cities like Fayetteville, Wilson, Rocky Mount, etc. are more likely to be called part of the Coastal Plain region of NC. A possible more common name for the cities I described as the Inner Banks is the "Tidewater" region that is shown on many geographical (non political) maps of NC. --TinMan 17:57, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

• The Coastal Plain region and the Tidewater region both define an area encompassing many states (and countries). Inner Banks is a term used to define a specific region of North Carolina. As to whether this region should be called a "bank" for the purposes of regional branding or not is really up to the communities in the area to decide. Take the Hampton Roads region of Virginia for instance, it's neither in the Hamptons nor is it a Road, it's actually a region named for a body of water that it surrounds. However, the people of Virginia call the whole region Hampton Roads in a concerted effort to brand a regional identity.--Kevin R Mills 15:02, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Several Thoughts On This Page

The Inner Banks is a neologism without historical precedent

What an incredibly stupid way to start an article.

• I see (above) that this page has been suggested for deletion; I would strongly disagree with this suggestion. I do have some issues with this article, which I'll detail below, but I think this article can/should be developed into an overall Eastern NC entry.

• I have concerns with the term "Inner Banks" - this strikes me as more of a marketing term than anything with any geographical authority or as anything in wide popular useage. The NC precedent for something like this would be the term "Metrolina:" I grew up in Charlotte, and in spite of decades of effort to make the term stick (it originated with Chamber of Commerces who were looking for something catchy like "Triad" or "Triangle"), the only people in the Charlotte area I've ever met who used the term were marketing professionals, certain businesses and CofC staff.

• Similarly, Eastern NC is identified in professional, academic and popular useages as the "Coastal Plain" or "Eastern NC." As the current Coastal Plain article covers the entire southeast, I'm aware that a lack of geographic specificty IS a problem; this could be rectified by creating (or merging this) into a specific, disambiguated "Coastal Plain[North Carolina]" article. I've lived around the state, but have only spent time in Wilmington, Dare County and Greenville (I haven't lived in those places), so I'm not quite an expert, but I'm suspecting that the new "Inner Banks" term is related to perceptions of the region (which gets into POV issues); I would argue that existing public, political, academic and media perceptions of "Coastal Plain" or "Eastern North Carolina" are valid, rooted, things that can be built upon, and aren't negative. This is another argument entirely, however.

• Geographically speaking, the area encompassed by the term "Inner Banks" also seems debateable to me - Wilmington (and it's metro area) are fairly distinct from other regions of Eastern NC, with a distinct history and geography. This is also true - to variable degrees - with Lumberton, Whiteville - again, perceptions come into play here, but Southeastern NC is often and widely viewed as its' own distinctive region.

• Similarly, Fayetteville is sometimes included in discussions of the "Sandhills," the "Coastal Plain," "Eastern NC," and - as a media market - as a satellite of the Triangle.

• As this article currently stands, I would suggest modest amounts of detail on the demographics, history, and metropolitan centers of the region. The articles for the Triangle, Triad and Charlotte Metropolitan areas are far from perfect, and are undergoing some tweaking, but their basic organization could easily be used successfully here: cities and towns, divided into population groupings of 50,000+ (Primary Cities); 10,000 to 49,999; and a selective guide to smaller towns.

• Similarly, grouped discussion of "History," "Transportation Network/Infrastructure," "Famous People" (varied cultural history - artists, writers, actors, musicians, major academic/political/sports/scientifc figures from or living in the region) would be a plus. As time permits, I'll try to make some prudent additions.

• I think this is a great start to an article. I just want to make sure that it remains more "encyclopedic" than "public relational," so as to ensure that it remains here.

Davidals 01:49, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

What the inners banks are.

Anywhere on a major body of water in Eastern North Carolina which feeds into the ocean = IBX, Outer Banks = OBX

http://www.rontoppin.com/inner_banks_hwy.htm

The “Inner Banks” is a term that has come into common use in the last couple of years, to define that water oriented area west of the Outer Banks. The definition of the term “Inner Banks” is not yet popularly recognized due to the recent genesis of the name. The competing desire by different areas to claim to be the “heart” or “center” of the Inner Banks creates more confusion. The company that is claiming to have trademarked the term is causing ever more confusion by their insistence that the Inner Banks goes all the way west to I95. This clearly will never be accepted since there is no water orientation at all to two thirds of this area. To try and claim that Rocky Mount, Wilson, Goldsboro and Greenville are a part of something called the INNER BANKS, is simply not credible. The Scenic Parkway project would serve as the major project to tie the area together and promote growth and development in a progressive yet conservation minded way. It will also clarify the term Inner Banks in the public’s mind.

The natural definition of the “Inner Banks” which we are using is the western area of the two Sounds, Albemarle and Pamlico, and the four rivers which connect and feed these two Sounds, the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers feeding into the Albemarle Sound, and the Pamlico and Neuse Rivers feeding into the Pamlico Sound. We propose a transportation artery that links both banks of all four rivers, close to the two sounds, but avoiding towns in the area.

Only one of the four rivers in our definition of the Inner Banks has a usable bridge across the river that is not close to a major town and that is the bridge over the Roanoke River, called the Three Rivers Bridge (as it also crosses the Cashie and Middle Rivers at the same spot). The value of the all bridges on the Scenic Parkway being away from towns is obvious in the explanation of why this project is so desirable, to maintain dispersed and rural development and to promote reasonable commuting speed. The existing Three Rivers Bridge is integrated into our Inner Banks Scenic Parkway plan. Mbmariogc3s 22:42, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Some Thoughts

I wanted to comment on this page, because I think it is somewhat misrepresenting in its' facts. To say that the area all the way to I-95 is the "Inner Banks" would be a totally fallacy. It is termed geographically the Coastal Plain. The Inner Banks would be more accurately describing the area east of US Highway 17 and North of Morehead City. Areas south of Morehead City are not considered the Outer Banks and would therefore not be considered the "Inner Banks" either. Historically I have always heard the Inner Banks to be more specifically the inland parts of the counties that are considered the Outer Banks (i.e. Dare, Hyde, Currituck, Carteret). Whether this term is some kind of corporate economic development strategy or is being coined as a geographic term, I believe this page needs to be cleaned up quite a bit for it to be factual.Dm46607 07:45, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Alright, I believe it's time to draw some conclusions here from the gathered information. Heck, even Filmeast.net is sourcing Wikipedia now, so we should have our info right [1]. I feel like the article, as written encompasses an area where the term "Inner Banks" is not accepted at all. I've been searching around for some time trying to find defintions and maps of the "Inner Banks", wary of schemes to "revitalize the poor areas". Here's what I say the Inner Banks are:

1. The original geographical defintion of "Inner Banks", which basically includes the towns and villages west of the Outer Banks along the shores of the Albemarle, Croatan, Pamlico, Core, and Currituck Sounds, as well as the wide parts of the Chowan, Pamlico, Alligator, and Neuse tidal rivers. This area essentially encompasses the cities of New Bern, Washington, Plymouth, Columbia, Elizabeth City, Edenton, Belhaven, Bayboro, and arguably as far south as Beaufort. (article on it argues this area)
2. The City of Washington, which claims to be the "Heart of the Inner Banks". Therefore, the city should be somwhere in the center of the Inner Banks.
3. The towns associated with the Creative Community Initiative [2], which are pushing to be branded as: Ayden, Plymouth, Edenton, Hertford, Murfreesboro, and Tarboro (which is the furthest west of all the others, therefore the western line lines around there)
4. As a consequence of the surrounding communities and the geographical (on the Tar River), commercial center, aviation center, population center qualities, Greenville is essentially in the Inner Banks too. Without it, the Inner Banks would have a hole. So it should be included despite the fact that the city has not accepted the term. It is almost like Mebane, NC which is located between the Triad and the Triangle.
5. The towns specifically pointed out in the Carolina's Inner Sanctum article: Plymouth, Bath, Elizabeth City, Belhaven, Columbia, and Washington.
6. Area along the path of the Inner Banks Highway [3]: Gatesville, Mintonsville, Colerain, Bath, Belhaven, Aurora, Arapahoe, and Havelock.
7. NOT Roanoke Island, which identifies itself largely with the Outer Banks. So that means Manteo and Wanchese are out.
8. NOT The Crystal Coast or any further south that that. Morehead City is iffy, along with Beaufort, although Beaufort somewhat embraces the historical and cultural components of the Inner Banks. Wilmington, Jacksonville (military town), Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Fayetteveille do not embrace the "Inner Banks" at all, so they should definately be excluded.
9. Filled in area of connected "sure deal" Inner Banks cities: Winton, Swanquarter, Windsor, Williamston, Jamesville, Camden, Winterville and Lewiston-Woodville.
10. Kinston is very very iffy. No sources I have found show that it embraces the concept.
11. Trenton I have seen is somewhat involved in the Inner Banks project. I have no source though.

By these definitions, we can get a pretty darn clear picture of the area of the Inner Banks. Using a form of linear regression, we can essnetially draw a line from Morehead City northwest to Trenton then northwest to Ayden, then north-by-northwest to Tarboro then northeast to Murfreesboro... this is a fairly good western boundary for the CURRENT Inner Banks definition. It almost has an ellispe shape, which shows its accuracy. The article should reflect this information, and not just push whatever the ENC organization comes up with. This is an encyclopedia, not a promotional service. I will adjust the map accordingly.

The lists of cities and towns within the supposed area just does not hold up here. This new region is just not accepted enough to have definite boundaries, so who's to say what cities are in and which ones are out? I say we list the cities that are embracing the idea only until we see how the IBX branding holds up in the future. Any additional response? --TinMan 21:01, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Tinman, you say "Wilmington, Jacksonville (military town), Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Fayetteveille do not embrace the "Inner Banks" at all, so they should definately be excluded." Take a look at www.venture-east.com[4]. On this website you can find community profiles and copies of the IBX Newsletter[5]. As you will see, Wilmington, Rocky Mount, and Fayetteville have all been featured in the IBX Newsletter. I, as the coordinating editor of the IBX Newsletter, would like to submit to this discussion that each of these communities was given the opportunity to write and submit their own article to the IBX Newsletter. In each case, the tourism director and/or town manager wrote and submitted the article and photos of their towns. To suggest that these towns do not embrace the IBX, or Inner Banks, seems to contradict the fact that they have written articles to be included in the IBX Newsletter. You will also notice that Beaufort submitted an article related to the Pepsi Sail 2006 in the summer 2006 edition of the IBX Newsletter. Kevin R Mills 16:38, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I took a look over the IBX Newsletter articles again and searched for the term "Inner Banks". Still, I do not see any hard evidence showing that cities like Wilmington and Rocky Mount have "embraced" the "Inner Banks" term, with the exception of that Venture East website (although, it actually says some waterways are part of the Inner Banks and the list is of Eastern NC communities[6] if you read it carefully). "Eastern North Carolina" is a term that seems to be used much more often. Also, I have found no definite source linking places like Wilmington directly to the Inner Banks. When I say "embrace the Inner Banks", I mean that the term is used colloquially, is part of some "geographical division", is used by local tourism organizations, etc. I do not see this for the aforementioned outer cities. The city of Washington is the epitome of the Inner Banks movement it seems, but for instance, Fayetteville, has not caught onto the idea (it may come later). I do not believe a submission to a newsletter for "Eastern North Carolina" communities (even though it's called the IBX Newsletter) is enough to say that the community is branded with the tag. Nevertheless, I've erred on the side of generalities on the IBX map. The "east of I-95" definition that some have used is used for the "seldomly included" yellow area. For the time being, I think it's best to define the region as just the area in red which meets more than 1 of the criteria I've listed above. Beaufort is arguable, but I think it's siding with the IBX brand and the Crystal Coast brand. --TinMan 17:07, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

IBX?

I think this page is silly. I live in Chocowinity, and in school, particularly social studies, we were always taught that we were in the Coastal Plains region. More than likely, IBX was something made up by a northerner to attract people to the area. I'd like to see this changed to 'Coastal Plains', so that it matches what we are taught, and so I dont have to keep editing the articles for Chocowinity and surrounding areas to match our social studies books.

Thanks.

Will (talk) 03:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

• They taught you right in Social Studies, but they gave you the basic "NC has only 3 regions: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Mountains" version. Plus, "region" is a loosely defined word and you can be in more than one region or subregion or subsubregion. The Atlantic Coastal Plain article already exists, more locally, the Eastern North Carolina article includes the "Costal Plain" region. Was IBX made up by a northerner? No, it wasn't. Actually it was made up of governments of towns close to your own Chocowinity in an effort to brand the area "Inner Banks", hoping to get some tourism like the popular OBX (Outer Banks). That's all it is, and since the name is sorta catching on among some, this article is here. So that explains why this is the Inner Banks. No, it shouldn't be renamed; just go to the other article. --Triadian (talk) 06:05, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Inner Banks and IBX are misnomers with respect to the defined geographical area. If anything the "Inner Banks" should consist exclusively of those areas on or immediately adjacent to the inland waters, specifically the sounds, of eastern North Carolina. The use of Inner Banks is explicitedly for marketing purposes and has no historical context within the state of North Carolina. As a native of NC, I am aware that the term is an attempt at branding the inner coastal areas for commercial and tourist interests. The page should be deleted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.188.192.60 (talk) 14:30, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Inner Banks= Tidewater, not I-95

As an almost lifelong resident of Halifax County, I have never heard any part of our County referred to as "Inner Banks", and including the western Counties shown on this map as being in such a Region is highly misleading, and geographically, geologically, and physiologically, just plain wrong. Almost half of Halifax is actually in the Piedmont, and absolutely no part is "Tidewater", or even close to it. These representations hurt an64.237.16.42 (talk) 22:37, 13 October 2015 (UTC)JLW already struggling area, by promoting us to be a "coastal" area, when, in fact, we are almost 150 miles inland. We are about 75 miles from Raleigh, and our people relate to the Raleigh area. As an economic boost, THAT is is what we should play up--the fact that we can have the amenities of Raleigh in about an hour-to 90 minutes. It is certainly a more accurate, and easier sell that a 3 hour trip to the Outer Banks.64.237.16.42 (talk) 22:37, 13 October 2015 (UTC)JLW

Piney Woods

For the area's former inclusion with the Sandhills as the Carolinas' "Piney Woods", see also the Civil War-era poem "Castle Thunder", where the prison's 'Goobers' are said to come from the Tar River. — LlywelynII 19:40, 4 September 2018 (UTC)