Goldsboro, North Carolina

G oldsboro, North Carolina, a city of approximately 35,000, is situated in the state’s Coastal Plain, bordered on the south by the Neuse River and the west by the Little River. It sits about 43 miles southwest of Greenville, 55 miles southeast of Raleigh, the state capital, and 87 miles north- west of Wilmington. Originally called Golds- borough’s Junction, the city was named after Matthew T. Goldsborough, an Assistant Chief Engineer with the Wilmington-Weldon Rail- road, which he helped bring to the area in the early 1840s. The town, whose name was subsequently shortened to Goldsboro, was incorporated in 1847 and became the new seat of Wayne County. It was a trading center for the sur- rounding cotton plantations and, because of its importance as a railroad junction, played a significant role in the American Civil War, both for stationing Confederate troops and for transporting their supplies. In 1942, the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base opened on the outskirts of town, and today, it is the home of the 4th Fighter Wing, and, along with local hog and turkey farms, and the Mt. Olive Pickle Company, is a significant driver of the local economy. For the past two decades, Julie Metz has been Goldsboro’s Downtown Development Direc- tor, as well as the Executive Director to the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corpo- ration (DGDC), a non-profit, private sector organization dedicated to the improve- ment of Downtown Goldsboro’s 22-square-block district. The DGDC’s mission is to create and facili- tate develop- ment,