Chip. Honolulu. Shelmerdine. Calico. Clayroot. If you go to Google maps and search for Vanceboro, North Carolina, you’ll find these place names surrounding it. Sound like country living in the South? Sure does! These old names of little settlements remind us that life here remains much as it has been for hundreds of years: quiet and peaceful, built around family and faith, a place where neighbors respect one another’s privacy but are ready to help when help is needed.

Vanceboro, population 849 according the U.S. Census Bureau’s website, is a classic tiny Southern town. The center of town is at the corner of Farm Life Avenue and Main Street. Scattered along Highway 46, the main street through town, you’ll find two grocers, Vera’s diner, Andy’s 1950s-style hamburger restaurant, an ABC store (state liquor store), and a few other small businesses. Recently on the northern edge of town there’s been quite a lot of activity: a Food Lion grocery, Bojangles and Hardy’s restaurants, and a Hess mini-mart/gas station are among the chain businesses that have built new facilities in Vanceboro. West Craven High School and West Craven Middle School are located just beyond the town limits and an elementary school is in town.

Founded in the early 1800s, Vanceboro was originally named Swift Creek, a name that has returned in two new real estate developments. The Swift Creek Landing development will contain 45 homes when it is completed. Containing a lake and two ponds, the property is also adjacent to Swift Creek and will contain a boat ramp to allow access to the Neuse River. Designed around the natural elements, the community takes full advantage of its pristine surroundings.

A newly announced project, Swift Creek Plantation, will consist of 450 acres just south of Vanceboro’s town limits. Bordered on two sides by Swift Creek, and containing a pond, it will be divided into building lots of one-acre or more. Currently 55 building sites are available to purchase.

Vanceboro is well located 15 miles from New Bern, 15 miles from Washington NC, and 30 miles from Greenville, home of East Carolina University and the thriving ECU medical school/hospital complex. People dreaming of the peace and privacy offered by a home in the country may find just what they want in the northern area of Craven County surrounding Vanceboro. The region receiving mail with a Vanceboro zip code (the northern part of the county) had a population of 6928 in the 2000 census. It is a land filled with tobacco farms and cotton fields, with places where you can pick your own strawberries and grow a vegetable garden, with access to water sports and city conveniences. If this is the life for you, come find the perfect place to build your home, in the charm and quiet of the southern countryside. Who knows, you may just find your next home in Honolulu!