Norcross Chamber Of Commerce

East Coast Tourist Meccas Look to Labor Day for Help After Irene

Hurricane Irene severed the main traffic artery of North Carolina ’s Hatteras Island. It drove people from the Jersey Shore . And it cost businesses in Cape Cod $35 million, said Wendy Norcross, executive director of the local Chamber of Commerce.

When Irene hit Aug. 27, the storm forced vacationers to flee some of the East Coast’s most popular spots. Now, officials and business owners hope Labor Day weekend will revive their fortunes.

Angelo Argyriadis, owner of the Kream ‘N’ Kone restaurant in Dennisport, Massachusetts , said his business was off 60 percent on the weekend of Irene and he’s concerned about summer’s final week.

“It’ll be quieter than it normally would have been,” said Argyriadis, 50. “Everybody in the hospitality business will be hurt and that has a ripple effect.”

Tourists spend about $1 billion a year on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Norcross said. Half that comes in June, July and August. The biggest challenge post- Irene will be luring people dealing with power outages and damage who live off the cape, she said.

“Our core markets are Boston and Worcester in Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut ; New York City and New Jersey , and those people are in recovery mode,” she said.

Hotel occupancy was down 70 percent the weekend Irene hit, Norcross said.

“We are working to try to rescue some of the Labor Day weekend,” she said.

Efforts will include online banner advertising and posting images of the sunny weather on the chamber’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

On Long Beach Island, New Jersey, Rick Reynolds, head of the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, estimated about $4 million to $5 million in lost sales. The 18-mile barrier island has a year-round population of about 7,500 that may hit 250,000 on busy weekends, Reynolds said.

“Take 175,000 people off of Long Beach Island and anyone can extrapolate the lost sales,” he said.

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Named after the Hon. Jonathan Norcross, it was chartered as a town on October 26, 1870, and selected to the National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior in the early 1980s, its rich history began much earlier.

The Norcross Historic District sits along the eastern continental divide. This divide, or ridge, played a significant role in the early settlement of the area. Originally, the Creek and Cherokee Indians occupied this land and the ridgeline was used as a major transportation route. Two American forts were established in the early 19th century due to the War of 1812 – Fort Daniel (at Hog Mountain) and Peachtree Fort (in Atlanta). These two forts were connected by this old Indian trail which became known as the original Peachtree Road. By around 1840, this trail had evolved into a stagecoach route connecting South Carolina and Alabama through Georgia. The surrounding area became populated and the small communities of Pinckneyville and Flint Hill prospered.

This all changed with the creation of the Richmond-Danville Railroad, designed to open up the wilderness areasof northeast Georgia. The railroad was proposed in 1856 by Jonathan Norcross (a former Atlanta mayor) and was subsequently approved. Construction was delayed, however, until 1866 because of the Civil War. On September 12, 1869, the first twenty miles (32 km) were completed and on October 16, 1889, John J. Thrasher bought the 250 acres (1.0 km2) surrounding the terminal for $1,650 and a town was born – named for Thrasher’s good friend, Jonathan Norcross. The Brunswick Hotel was built in 1870 and Norcross quickly became known as a resort area, much like Eastlake, for Atlantans wanting to escape the rapidly growing city. The new town also meant the demise of the surrounding communities of Pinckneyville and Flint Hill, as people migrated in to build houses, churches, schools, and to be near the railroad.

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