Oldest houses in River Bend
Click on thumbnails to enlarge
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| 403 Old Pollocksville Road | 509 Old Pollocksville Road | 248 Shoreline Drive | 271 Shoreline Drive |
| Built 1920 | Built 1955 | Built 1965 | Built 1969 |
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| 263 Shoreline Drive | 293 Shoreline Drive | 297 Shoreline Drive | 280 Shoreline Drive |
| Built 1969 | Built 1969 | Built 1969 | Built 1969 |
In September of 1967 Frank Efird began construction on the 12,000 acre site known as River Bend Plantation. In 1981 it became the incorporated Town of River Bend. With assistance from Rick Greene, his sister Brenda Morris and the Craven County GIS system at http://gismaps2.cravencounty.com/maps/ I posted the above photos taken on 11/10/05 of what I believe were the first houses in River Bend. I'll defer to others as to which ones in 1969 were built first, second, etc.
If anyone has old photos of River Bend in the early days, especially of public buildings, I'll be happy to post them here if you'll scan them and put them on a diskette or CD.
I understand from Lou Columbo, who was involved in River Bend's 20th year celebration, that a committee prepared a history of River Bend with the help of Frank Efird whom they interviewed in Wilmington on several occasions. Lou said that Town Hall perhaps has a record of it.
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| Above is a house that I always thought was probably the oldest house on the Trent River in RB until Rick Greene straightened me out. It is located at 270 Shoreline Drive and was vacant for many years after we moved here in '93. Turns out it was built in 1975 as a "party house" by the late Carl Johnson, a Mercedes dealer, who resided on Plantation Drive at the time. It's a very unusual house. |
By the way, another house that was on the Old Pollocksville Rd in the early 1900s existed in the woods behind the River Bend Baptist church on what is now Frank Efird's property. It was a two-story white house with a basement. Remains of the house are still in the woods but it's quite grown over now, after becoming a dumping ground for building contractors.
A few years ago I posted a photo on the RB History page at http://www.ci.river-bend.nc.us/history.html of an old school on the Old Pollocksville Rd. It's now gone. I have no idea what happened to it.
Dave Wallace 11/15/05
River Bend Web Page http://www.ci.river-bend.nc.us/
