Former Lincoln City residents hold reunion

They’re back.

Many of the residents of the Lincoln City neighborhood in Kinston who left town — and those who moved elsewhere in the city following the 1999 flood — got back together this weekend for the sixth annual Lincoln City Reunion.

“I was born and raised there, and I enjoyed every minute until the big one came,” said Joseph Green, who moved to Jones County. “When it came, we had to relocate, but things are all right — we’re still here.”

People gathered at Pearson Park to cook out and talk with each other again on Saturday, and will head to the Holloway Center today at 2 p.m. for the grand picnic and ceremony.

Lincoln City, organized around Lincoln Street and about a dozen roads, was one of the first black neighborhoods in the Kinston. In 1898, Lincoln Barnett bought land in the area, and black residents of the segregated town in 1914 began purchasing lots and building houses. It originated around just three streets — Oak, Lincoln and University.

“You know, it was the kind of place where it was a safe neighborhood — we were very protective of one another,” former resident Mildred Brown said. “Back in those days, adults looked out for children, so you didn’t want that adult to find out, because that adult would tell your mama, if they didn’t spank your little behind themselves.”

Brown lived in Lincoln City when she was growing up, but moved away in the 1980s.

“It has been fantastic — there’s a guy here today, I haven’t seen him since we lived back there,” Brown said. “And I went to school with his sister. Every year, you’re going to see people you haven’t seen, and then you’re going to see people you only see at the reunion.”

Charlie Moye moved back to the area from New Jersey in 1996, but was forced to leave three years later when the floods came.

“It’s been beautiful. Sometimes you don’t see each other from one end of the year to the next,” he said. “But tomorrow, we’ll get together over at the Holloway place and we’ll see a lot of them we haven’t seen in quite a few years.”

About 4,000 people are expected to attend the reunion this year.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports. 

BREAKOUT BOX:

Lincoln City Reunion

Grand Picnic and Ceremony

Where: Holloway Center, Maple Avenue and East Caswell Street

When: Today, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

What: Cooking out, health fair, live music, door prizes, prayer service and a hall of history