It was late September, or perhaps October. Beau and I were enjoying our peripatetic activity at Stewart Parkway. (Who was walking whom?)

There was a pretty young lady seated on one of the benches, engaged in writing. It was only when Beau and I were heading back to our beginning point, and passed her again that I spoke to her.

I asked if she was a writer. She replied that no, she was just writing some notes. For mailing, I assumed.

I asked her where she was from, and she said she lived in Greenville. (Now, I’m not nosey, just the friendly sort. That she was young and pretty was not relevant. Sure.)

She said she was originally from Fayetteville, worked at Talbot’s, and either went to ECU or was currently a student now. I didn’t ask her to repeat the last part.

“Do you come here often?” I queried.

“Oh, yes.”

“What do you think of our waterfront?

“It’s paradise,” she responded, looking out at the river.

Indeed. It really is.

And there was a time when it really wasn’t. At least with respect to aesthetics and accessibility. A time when, it is fair to say, that at least some of the progeny of “old” Washingtonians were not in the vanguard of leadership, or even support, of efforts to move the town and community forward. That is another story, one that this writer will not be telling.

So. Back in the ’60s there was a confluence of men with vision, a competent staff at the Redevelopment Commission, and both leadership and support from Urban Renewal and the City of Washington, that came together to literally transform much of the city, including our now wonderful waterfront.

Here at the local level were far-sighted men serving on the Redevelopment Commission, though those years, some of whom were Dr. Raymond Alexander, William M. Daniels Jr., James A Hackney, James Hinkley, Ashley G. Leggett, Colon W. McLean, David M. Milligan, Reid Mitchell Jr., William W. Moore, Beverly G. Moss, John W. Oden, Phil Roberson and Leroy Woodcock.

The Redevelopment Commission executive director was William I. Cochran Jr,. and Harry Meredith was a part of a competent, hard-working, productive staff that ably assisted Mr. Cochran, a man of genuine abilities.

On Saturday, June 13, 1970, the city officially dedicated the new Stewart Parkway and Waterfront. Commission Chairman Dave Milligan, in his remarks at the event, said, “It is with much pleasure that our beautiful new Stewart Parkway, named in honor of Mayor A. Thomas Stewart, who is serving as president of the North Carolina League of Municipalities, and adjoining waterfront will officially become an integral part of a city and her citizens.”

Among those in attendance that beautiful day in June four-and-half decades ago were the Hon. Walter B. Jones, U.S. Representative; John T. Edmunds, Regional Administrator for Renewable Assistance for the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Dr. Leo W. Jenkins, Chancellor of East Carolina University; and other government and civic leaders.

The U.S. Marine Corps Band and Color Guard from Camp Lejeune presented a concert prior to the ceremony and also participated during the proceedings.

A fitting sentiment for such an accomplishment, indeed for the entirety of the transformation wrought in Washington during those years, was a quotation Mayor Stewart used in his open letter which appeared in the Redevelopment Commission Annual Report-1969, by John Ruskin: “Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men’s souls.” The waterfront project was ongoing at this time.

In this same annual report, Chairman Milligan, in his response to Mayor Stewart, wrote, “Your Redevelopment Commission is enthusiastic about the continued renewal of the city, and each of us expresses our appreciation to you and to the Council for allowing us the opportunity to serve in so noble an undertaking.”

And now we enjoy the fruits of their labors.