SEVEN SPRINGS — The life and history of this small riverside town are closely intertwined with the Neuse River, but over the past 23 years hurricane-spawned river flooding has left Seven Springs, Wayne County’s oldest municipality, struggling to survive.
Now, town leaders are hopeful that their neighbors from across the county will join town residents at a Dec. 1 meeting to support their efforts to secure a share of $15 million in state grant funding.
The funding will be used for revitalization projects — some of which will be tied to the recreational opportunities the Neuse River provides.
The meeting will be held at 11 a.m. at Granddaughter’s Venue on Main Street.
“So this is open to anybody, you don’t have to live in Seven Springs,” Mayor Ronda Hughes said.
The town’s application is among the 20 still under consideration.
If the state were to fund all 20 applications, it would total $21 million, Hughes said.
Seven Springs is hoping for $350,000, she said.
Hughes said she is unsure of the meeting format and if those who attend will have a time to comment.
“We are just kind of playing it by ear,” she noted. “We have applied for a bunch of grants, but this is one where we are down to the final 20. We actually have more people coming who are doing the approving of the grants because we have so many (state) representatives coming.
“We’ve got (state House Majority Leader) John Bell (of Goldsboro) coming. (State) Rep. Jimmy Dixon (of Mount Olive) is coming. We have county commissioners coming. We’ve got some of the grant writers coming and it’s open to the public, anybody who wants to show their support.”
The grant that will be discussed is for storm drainage improvements and for outdoor improvement projects that build on the town’s history and its association with the Neuse River, including the seven mineral springs that the town takes its name from, she pointed out.
“We are looking at maybe a walking path on the lot across from the park and then it (grant) plays, too, on the history,” Hughes said. “So inside that walking path, we are looking at a replica of the pavilion down at the springs, but it will be a picnic area.
“Also the spring house that has the seven wells in it, the plans are that in the seven wells replica we would actually be able to turn it on and off so at times it actually would have water in it.”
The plans also include a walk-and-read story path; more RV camper lots; and improvements to the town’s existing park, she said.
There is much history associated with the town, Hughes said.
Seven Springs was originally known as Whitehall and later White Hall after the plantation of William Whitefield who established his plantation in 1741.
It was site of the Civil War Battle of White Hall in December 1862, and the Confederate Ironclad CSS Neuse was built in Seven Springs in 1863.
When a post office was established in 1881, the name was changed to Jehrico, and in 1894 the name was changed to Seven Springs.
The town gets its name from the seven mineral springs that were the basis of the Seven Springs Hotel. The hotel began operation in 1881 and closed in 1944.
The area was home to a tribe of Native-Americans, too, Hughes said.
“We had a doctor’s office,” she said. “We had buggy factories. We had tar factories. We had blacksmith shops. We had the hotel.
“I mean there was just so much going on in that little town.”
However, historic flooding caused by Hurricanes Floyd (1999), Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018) devastated homes and the small downtown area.
Prior to the storms, the town had between 130 and 140 residents. In the storms’ aftermaths, the population has shrunk to about 75, she said.
Most of the houses lost to the flooding were in the valley where the town proper is located, Hughes said, adding that because of the town’s senior population, most of the houses were single-person households, she said.
If the town does not get the full $350,000, it will still welcome whatever funding is forthcoming, she said.
The town will just have to pick and choose what’s the most important — what will help it the most, Hughes stressed.
“I am not sure because we have not got down to the final decision,” she said. “I think it’s January through March sometime when they will let us know if we made the cut. They (state) will probably try to fill as much as they can because they are trying to help as many different communities as possible.
“Even without the flooding, COVID has hit people so hard. With that being said, we don’t know yet what are the specifics about the grant because you won’t know that till you get the grant.”
The town might be able to stretch whatever funding it receives if approved work comes in under the estimated cost, she said.
Hughes said she understands that the state received 75 applications. She said she feels good that the town has made it to the final 20 being considered.
“I hope we make it to the final whatever it is,” she stressed.
She is hoping as well that county residents will attend the meeting to demonstrate their support for the application since the projects will benefit the entire area and not just Seven Springs.
“Like the walking path,” Hughes said. “The people who live in Seven Springs won’t be the only ones who use it.
“But that (community support) is kind of what we are hoping for.”
