An Eastern Carolinian offered up the narrowest definition of Down East.
In a Nov. 23, 2002, article in the Winston-Salem Journal, Cape Lookout Coastkeeper Frank Tursi said the broader definition of the North Carolina region would "elicit sighs" from locals.
"While it is true that to 'upstaters' the term applies generically to everything east of I-95, to Carteret County natives the term is used to describe a specific piece of real estate that lies east between Beaufort and Cedar Island, between Core Sound and the Neuse River. This hundred or so square miles of mostly marsh includes such places as Otway, Davis, Atlantic, Bettie, Stacy, Lola, South River, Marshallberg, Merrimon and Harkers Island, which the natives consider is becoming increasingly gentrified...
He said the narrow definition would not include Ocracoke or other parts of the Outer Banks.
Earlier: Does Down East own the governorship?
