Eastern North Carolina Encyclopedia/Greene County
GREENE COUNTY
The county of Greene, so named in honor of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary fame, is bounded on the north by Edgecombe and Pitt Counties, on the east by Pitt and Lenoir Counties, on the south by Wayne County and on the west by Wilson County. It is drained by the Contentnea River and its tributaries, the Contentnea River crossing the county through the middle. It is a typical county of the once long-leaf pine section. The soils are characteristically gray sandy loams, with yellow to brown subsoil, and belong to the region of level piney uplands. Along the borders of the various streams are frequent and extensive tracts of alluvial lands, and on some of them, particularly the Contentnea River, occur cypress and gum swamps of considerable area.
The soil of the county has every variety, from the black peaty soil to the stiff clay. The predominating soil is a light friable loam, being about four inches in depth and shading off in most places to a subsoil of yellow sand. When first cleared it is in many places of a darkish color, wearing white by use when not well manured and properly cultivated. This soil is easy to till at all seasons of the year.
The variety, excellence and abundance of the products grown indicate alike the character of the soil and the intelligence and industry of the farmers. Those who at an early period assisted or directed nature in the use of her forces, and by the skilful application of fertilizers, and by the careful husbanding and the skilful manipulation of all domestic stores of fertility, made Greene County conspicuous as one of the best agricultural counties of the East. Tobacco, corn and cotton constitute the most valuable field crops, but almost any crop grown in the State may be grown within its borders, such as wheat, oats, rice, potatoes, peas, and many other crops are grown successfully. In some sections of the county marl is found in abundance, and is used to fertilize the lands, making the growth of the above crops an easy and profitable occupation.
For poultry and live stock this is an ideal county on account of the natural pastures, pasture crops and leguminous plants, such as velvet beans and soy beans. It is good for the growing of feed stuffs and is close to good live stock markets. For trucking, Greene County has the Norfolk fine sandy loam soil that is fertile and well drained. The soil is particularly adapted to the cultivating of blackberries, cabbage, lettuce, asparagus, carrots and melons, and is close to good trucking markets.
Much of the land of Greene County is particularly adapted to the growth of bright tobacco of a very fine texture, much sought for by the manufacturers of cigarettes. Fabulous prices have been paid for tobacco grown in this county, the growers realizing in many instances from $500 to as high as $1400 per acre for the tobacco grown. This is perhaps the most valuable crop of the county, its total reaching more than 20,000,000 pounds in recent years. There are large areas in the county devoted to the growth of cotton, the second most valuable crop grown, the total bales grown being from 10,000 to 15,000 per annum. It is also a productive corn region, as may well be understood from the character of its best lands reclaimed from swamps.
In recent years the county has given much attention to the improvement of its roads and improvement of its school system. A network of sand-clay roads connects every section with Snow Hill, the county seat, which is connected with Kinston and the Central Highway by an asphalt road, while other roads of the same kind connecting the county on the north, west and south are already planned, and will in the near future be built. Two railroads traverse the county, the Norfolk-Southern across the northern end, Walstonburg being the principal station on this road, and The Kinston-Carolina Railroad, a subsidiary of the Norfolk-Southern, enters the county from the east, giving access to the markets of the East to the county.
Snow Hill, the county seat (so named from the abundance of beautiful white sand to be seen in this vicinity), is a town of near 1,000 population, wide-awake and progressive as may be seen by its improved streets and sidewalks. The streets are of the well known concrete asphalt type, while the sidewalks are of concrete. The town has installed a modern water and sewer system, its water being pronounced by competent chemists as of the very best, same being obtained from wells 200 feet deep. It possess two banks, a large number of business houses, a newspaper, four white churches and one of the best schools in the East.
The county contains 242 square miles and contains at present a population a little in excess of 16,000, almost equally divided between the two races. Its property valuation for taxation purposes has grown from $2,000,000 in 1900 to over $20,000,000 in 1924, and the tax total from less than $15,000 in 1900 to over $500,000 in 1924.
The educational growth in Greene County for the last few years has been shown by the community spirit prevalent, by the number of special tax districts, and by the interest manifested in the improvement and growth of the schools. The schools have been making progress in proportion to the schools in other counties of Eastern North Carolina. As a whole the people have a generous spirit toward education and are waking up as never before for better consolidated schools. In 1921 Greene County constructed its first modern school building at Snow Hill, costing $90,000. This building is modern in every respect, and has a large library and well equipped laboratory for the teaching of science. It is on the accredited list of high schools and has a high school enrollment of 140 pupils. All work is standardized and it draws high school pupils from many districts in the county. All teachers are college trained.
During the school year of 1922–23 three more modern schools were built. A well equipped brick building at Hookerton with 12 classrooms and basement, a beautiful auditorium with seating capacity of over 500, costing $70,000. Another modern structure with all conveniences was erected at Walstonburg with 12 class rooms and an auditorium of over 500 capacity, costing $50,000. This is a consolidated school of five rural schools. Also another five-room brick school was erected in Shine consolidated district. This is a modern rural school costing $10,000. All of these schools are up-to-date and are monuments to the communities in which they are erected.
The class of teachers in the schools is constantly improved upon, till this year for the first time all white teachers hold State Certificates. Only a few County Second Grade Certificates are issued to colored teachers. All teachers in larger schools are well trained and experienced.
There are now 27 white and 19 colored schools in the county. The number of white schools is decreasing every year through consolidation. There are three central high schools, Snow Hill, Hookerton and Walstonburg, located so that they are in easy reach of every high school boy and girl in the county. Practically all are 2 to 13 teacher schools.
In 1921–22 the cost of instruction per pupil in Greene County as compiled by the State Department of Education is below the average in Eastern North Carolina and much below the average of her adjoining counties. The school advantages in Greene County now compare very favorably with that of the Eastern Carolina counties in proportion to the amount of money spent on public education.
Ten or more Parent-Teacher-Associations have been organized in the last two years among the small rural schools and they are active and are doing untold good in the communities in which they are organized. This shows the growth of the community spirit.
Under the proposed plan of county-wide consolidation Greene County will have three central standard high schools and six standard elementary schools. When this scheme is put into operation every boy and girl in the county will have the advantage of a standard elementary and high school education. The spirit of education is growing and there are no impassable natural barriers in Greene County to interfere in making an ideal school system with minimum cost to the people.
