Tick Bite, North Carolina facts for kids

Tick Bite is a small place in North Carolina, United States. It's not a city or town with its own government. Instead, it's an unincorporated community located near Grifton in Lenoir County. The only business there used to be a place where they dug up rocks, called a quarry.

Members of the North Carolina National Guard helped people near Tick Bite who were rescued from flood waters after Hurricane Floyd.

The Great Flood of 1999

In 1999, a very powerful storm called Hurricane Floyd hit Tick Bite hard. The storm caused a lot of damage. The Contentnea Creek, a river that flows near Tick Bite and into the Neuse River, rose to extremely high levels.

What is a 500-Year Flood?

Experts said the water levels were so high, they hadn't been seen in about 500 years! This kind of event is sometimes called a "500-year flood." It means there's a very small chance (about 1 in 500) of such a big flood happening in any given year. The huge flood changed how people understood the flood risk for the area. Another smaller stream, Eagle Swamp, also joins Contentnea Creek here.

A Look Back in Time

Tick Bite has a long and interesting history. It was once part of the lands where the Tuscarora Indians lived. They were a Native American tribe.

Cowards Bridge and the Civil War

Tick Bite was also home to an important crossing called Cowards Bridge. This bridge was a major point on the road that connected the towns of Kinston and New Bern. During the Civil War, soldiers were stationed at the bridge. They built earth walls, called breastworks, to help protect the bridge from attacks.