Abstract:
A tributary of the Neuse River, Contentnea Creek, called “Moccasin River,” divided Pitt and Greene Counties and the branch called Little Contentnea wanders through western Pitt County. It was Cicero M. A. Griffin (1828-1892) a merchant and mill man from Grifton, NC, who placed the first steamboat flat on the Contentnea Creek. The first steamboat was named “Contentnea.” Other steamboats on the Contentnea included the “Snow Hill,” “Robert E. Lee,” “Phillips,’ “Carolina,” “Blanche,” “Kinston,” “L. A. Cobb,” “Howard,” “Laura,” “Uncle Sam,” “Nellie W.,” “Pearlie May,” and “May Bell.”