Railroad History, “Trapped” Land and Unreasonable Fees

After several calls, George Peacock and I arrange a time to meet at the Bojangles on Highway 55, one of two fast-food restaurants in Pamlico County. He tells me he needs to talk about the county railroad—the railroad that no longer exists.

Mr. Peacock is 90 years old and still drives, and on the morning that we meet at the restaurant, he knows every person who is there for a biscuit and sweet tea. He, or his wife Rosalie Peacock, taught them at Pamlico County High School, where he spent 30 years as a teacher.

When he is finished talking to his former students, we sit across from each other in a booth. He says he doesn’t know how to begin. After a long pause studying his hands and his notebook in deep thought, he decides to start with history.

Before 1902, he says, the original Highway 55 was a winding dirt road that ran from Oriental to the “big city” of New Bern. Back then, very few people could spend the time and money to make the trip.

To speed up the trip and help everyone at this time, especially the local farmers and fishermen trying to deliver fresh goods, the construction of a railroad—built by the Pamlico, Oriental, and Western Railroad Company—was planned. Naturally, most people were excited about this development. His wife’s family sold a small swath of their land to the company for a dollar to contribute to the railroad. As he tells me this story, his voice is measured, calm and factual, reminding me of actor Jimmy Stewart.

He continues, explaining that years later, in the 1960s, the railroad was removed and the land abandoned. People then depended on the current-day, paved Highway 55 that runs almost parallel to the old railroad line.

Now, at least 100 families in the county own land that is bordered and restricted by this long, thin railroad land that stretches the entire length of the county, now owned by the North Carolina Railroad Company, says Mr. Peacock.

These thin slices of land cut through farmland and box other land in, making it impossible to build or sell much of it because it contains no right-of-way to a main road—unless, Mr. Peacock stresses, the families pay a hefty price. The railroad company is quoting different prices to different families that most in Pamlico County can’t afford.

By federal law, within a year of the railroad being abandoned, almost all railroad land becomes the property of the people who hold land adjacent to the railroad land. However, North Carolina has a law, statute N.C.G.S 1-44.2, that prevents landowners from acquiring access to a right-of-way unless they pay a deed-holder—though this holder of the deed has never paid taxes.

Pointing out the window and down the road, Mr. Peacock tells me of one case, several years ago, when a family’s home burned down on property that was obstructed by the railroad land. At first the railroad quoted one price, but then increased it to $120,000. The family’s land was grandfathered in while their home was still standing. Once it burned down, though, they lost that access. Their home has still not been rebuilt.

The land owned by Mr. Peacock’s family is hemmed-in on all sides. The only way to access it would be from Highway 55, maybe 20 feet from their property. They are unable to build on or legally access the land unless they pay heavily.

For three years, Mr. Peacock has been fighting these restrictions, conducting research on the Internet and talking to politicians. He is joined in this bipartisan effort around the county, including by well-known people like Jeanette Hudson (her family also has inaccessible land), Economic Development Director Beth Bucksot and by the signatures of over 100 people directly affected.

Furthermore, he has talked to the Department of Transportation in New Bern, Greenville and Pamlico, and received no answers to his questions. He says he isn’t even completely sure if the state of North Carolina owns the railroad company now—also, no one seems to have accurate records of exactly where the railroad property begins and ends.

He admits that, so far, no elected officials have succeeded in their promises to amend the statute, and set their land free.

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Later that day, attorney Ben Hollowell, Jr., from Bayboro, talks to me on the phone and offers his take on the situation.

“The thing that makes this different than other federal cases is that the deed the people signed in 1902 included a ‘fee simple’ reference (defined as a permanent and absolute tenure in land with freedom to dispose of it at will)-- not just a ‘right of way,’ agreement.”

“They (the railroad company) now see this land as a big revenue stream for them and they are milking it for all its worth,” he continues. “Another important point is that without the easement from the railroad the property is basically “unmarketable”. An owner cannot sell it for its fair market value or obtain a loan.”

Summing it up, he says, “It is taking advantage of the situation in an unfair way to demand 75 to 125K for a small strip of land from hundreds of people in the county who will never be able to afford it.”

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