The Inner Banks is a term used by some to describe the inland coastal region of eastern North Carolina, an area on the East Coast of the United States that is 22,227 square-miles (57,568-km².) by its broadest definition. This coastal region was branded the Inner Banks to distinguish it from the Outer Banks, a string of small islands off the coast of North Carolina that are a popular tourist attraction. Together both "banks" roughly form the Coastal Plains region.
The Inner Banks comprises over 3,000 miles of inland coastline and is home to over 2.5 million residents. The Crystal Coast and Albemarle regions of the state are typically included in the Inner Banks. With a moderate climate, the area is becoming a popular destination for retirees and small business entrepreneurs. "Inner Banks" is sometimes abbreviated with the acronym IBX. The term "Inner Banks" is a recent construct on the part of developers and the tourism industry to rebrand the mostly agrarian coastal plain as a more attractive region for visitors and retirees. The term is rarely used colloquially. Many long-time residents are resisting the adoption of the term to describe the area since it's perceived as little more than a marketing tool with a scant history behind it.
The general definition states that the Inner Banks lie between Interstate 95 to the west, the Outer Banks to the east, and extend from the Virginia border down to the South Carolina border. Consisting of 41 counties, the region is three times the size of the state of New Jersey. Many areas farther from the sounds and tidal rivers have not embraced the Inner Banks brand and are seldom included in the definition. Traditionally dependent on agriculture and the textile industry, eastern North Carolina is undergoing an economic evolution by redefining the region's strengths to transition into the new global economy.
Six small towns in the Inner Banks have joined together in the Creative Communities Initiative. They are working to strengthen the region’s economy by fostering an environment attractive to knowledge workers, artists, and other people working in the creative economy. The six towns involved in the project are: Ayden, NC; Edenton, NC; Hertford, NC; Murfreesboro, NC; Plymouth, NC; and Tarboro, NC.
Read more about Inner Banks: Albemarle Region, Parks, Wildlife Refuges, Colleges and Universities
Famous quotes containing the word banks:
“The wide wonder of Broadway is disconsolate in the daytime; but gaudily glorious at night, with a milling crowd filling sidewalk and roadway, silent, going up, going down, between upstanding banks of brilliant lights, each building braided and embossed with glowing, many-coloured bulbs of man-rayed luminance. A glowing valley of the shadow of life. The strolling crowd went slowly by through the kinematically divine thoroughfare of New York.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)