In Greenville Wednesday, the city unveiled a new public art piece at the Town Common in celebration of Juneteenth. The art piece doubles as a trolley stop. The shelter is not only a part of the city's efforts to use art as an economic driver but also a remembrance of the historic Sycamore Hill neighborhood.
A system of trolleys and busses known as the Emerald Loop take people around uptown Greenville. A typical stop has a bench and maybe a shelter, but at this stop, a porch swing is used instead and the shelter's decked out with artwork.
The swing is meant to honor the Sycamore Hill community, a historically Black neighborhood that was torn down in the 60s for urban renewal. Today, the Greenville Town Common stands there. Terry Claiborne grew up in Sycamore Hill.
"There are a lot of stories to tell," Claiborne said. "One story is that my brother and I played on these high steps in front of our home and to us that was fun. That was joy, sitting on the steps counting the cars as they went by."
The piece features a photo of Sycamore Hill on the front. On the back, an interpretation of Greenville's future. Rakia Jackson is the graphic artist who designed the art.
"It's marrying the past and the present, but also giving hope to the future," Jackson said.
Depicted on the back are two Black children embracing, smiling amid a backdrop of sycamore trees.
"I used these seedlings in there because the sycamore trees are something that have been here for a while," she said. "Also, trees see all of history. They're here longer than our great-great grandparents."
Accompanying the trolley's stop vibrant visual will be audio, installed at a later date. At Wednesday's dedication, the Vines Sisters performed the church hymn "Down by the Riverside."
The piece is part of a larger project to integrate art into uptown. It's called the Emerald Loop, and it's the largest project the Pitt County Arts Council has undertaken, says Holly Garriot the council's executive director.
"It is a project that will transform our downtown through the arts, and one of the biggest components of that is the trolley, as well as the trolley stops, intersection murals, and a district-wide lighting plan."
The case for doing so is to make the entire uptown a more attractive place to be for both residents and visitors.
"It's creating a sense of uniqueness for the city, but also it's an exciting aspect of coming downtown having something to do, to look at, and to listen to," Garriot added.
"Absolutely, arts are economic development," Councilmember Portia Willis said. "There's a whole population out there that's very excited by the arts and see our community expand in that way, so let's capture those people."
She noted that there'll soon be a marker for the African American History Trail there soon to remember Sycamore Hill and Wednesday's dedication was in honor of Juneteenth.
"Juneteenth to me is having a history that can bring pain to a lot of pain people, but that's not where it ends," she said. "There's hope and change. We're still striving for equity, for equity, and for our place in society as African Americans."
A historical marker will be placed near the stop to remember the Sycamore Hill community and the impact of urban renewal on Black communities. This stop is the first of three, Garriot says, all of which will be part of the African American History Trail.
