They would become year-round homes during World War II, when people came here to work in the munitions factories. When it rains, the river roars over the banks, carrying away what it can, burying the rest in muck. A flood in the Sixties forced people to their roofs. Another in 1984 swept a rescue worker downstream to his death. During Tropical Storm Floyd last fall, the water rose 7 feet in a fury in the middle of the night, terrifying even the hardiest of residents.
Government officials hope to some day buy out the homeowners so they can move to higher ground.
Many believe nature will kill the neighborhood first. Look around and you can see nature at war. Vines are swallowing abandoned homes. Tiny sprouts of trees grow out of gutters. The river that lured many residents here is now so polluted most stopped swimming in it decades ago.