Title: Lonnie Norcott

Identifier: DAO50498   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/50498)

Description: Photographs of Lonnie Norcott taken at the Town Common, Greenville, N.C., accompanied by an oral history interview, for the Beyond Bricks and Mortar project. Mr. Norcott is a former resident of the Shore Drive neighborhood, that was destroyed in the 1960's to make room for the Town Common Park. Mr. Norcott recalls stories told to him by his grandfather about boats unloading merchandise from Tarboro. The black community settled in this area because they could get jobs unloading the boats. He reminisces about the close-knit community he experienced as a child. Mr. Norcott attended Sycamore Hill Missionary Baptist Church with his entire family, where his uncle was the church organist. He recalls that the redevelopment process upset many people who had had land for years. It also negatively affected the black merchants in the downtown area, many of whom never recovered. The downtown area had been a prosperous section of town for the African American community. Interviewer: Heather White.