DATE: Thursday, March 20, 1997              TAG: 9703200501

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   86 lines

ALBEMARLE AREA GOES WORLDWIDE BY PUTTING LOCAL DATA ON WEB

High-powered honchos on committees and boards bang their heads about how to bring tourists and their money to northeastern North Carolina.

Maybe all they have to do is surf.

In the last two months, more than 1,000 inquiring minds have written electronic letters asking about the Albemarle region after ``surfing'' the huge Internet site ICW-NET.

With a computer hit on (www.icw-net.com), internet surfers find a full-color, fact- and fun-filled tour of towns and attractions on the coast from here to Georgia.

``The theme . . . is communities of waterborn heritage,'' said Bob Jordan, one of the creators of ICW-NET and vice president of Jordan Company based in Elizabeth City. He receives e-mail inquiries and creates new pages on his computer in an expansive office. ``This is nothing like the creation we originally intended.''

Jordan jumped on the Internet and e-mail bandwagon two years ago when the capability to sign on first arrived in Elizabeth City. He planned to have a small Web page that highlighted a few things about his hometown and advertised his realty company and the family's electric and plumbing supply business. It was just a personal business venture.

Why not? The Jordans had always been first in line when it came to computer technology. Jordan's father first installed computers for his business in the early1960s. ``People used to say there are only two places in Elizabeth City with computers,'' said Jordan. ``The Coast Guard base and Jordans'. ''

Jordan's new web site draws so many requests that the small towns listed have had to drastically increase their mailing budget to respond to the demand.

``If we sent our inquiry package to every person, our budget would be overwhelmed,'' said Carl Blake, tourism manager of the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber only responds to Elizabeth City and Pasquotank inquiries.

Blake is considering sending a ``snappy little postcard'' to people who inquire about the whole region, saving 30 cents a pop in postage.

``It is amazing what this has done,'' said Margie Brooks, a volunteer chairwoman for Hyde County Chamber of Commerce. The county of 5,400 includes Ocracoke Island, a small beach community that is rapidly becoming a favorite of tourists.

Brooks used to receive three or four requests a month. Now she gets hundreds. Just this week, the Hyde County chamber made Jordan its first and only honorary member for his contribution.

Jordan began building the ICW-NET with pages about Edenton and Elizabeth City in the summer of 1995. At first, only a few wanted any part of it, not seeing the potential, said Jordan.

He registered names up and down the North Carolina coast anyway with the philosophy that the bigger the site the more chance for ``hits,'' a slang term for logging on. He now ``owns'' registered site names from here to Georgia.

Each Web site provides attractions, nearby towns and sites, a history, the prevailing weather and the waterways. It even has a ``how to find'' icon that sends you to explore other uses of the Internet such as finding a job.

The Elizabeth City site, (www.elizcity.com), provides 70 pages on the town of 17,000. The city desperately wants to get in on some of the attention, and tourist dollars, flowing to the Outer Banks 50 miles to the east. The Internet site is helping.

``The Internet responses are looked upon as an invaluable resource,'' said Blake.

Jordan has scanned into the Elizabeth City historical section, dozens of photos from the Museum of the Albemarle and local historian Fred Fearing. Fearing himself is known worldwide as a Rose Buddy. The Rose Buddies greet boaters stopping in Elizabeth City as they travel up and down the Intracoastal Waterway.

Jordan has added all of the sites included in the Historical Albemarle Tour such as ``The Lost Colony,'' Hope Plantation and the Elizabethan Gardens.

When explorers discovered what may be Blackbeard's ship recently on North Carolina's coast, the only site with biographical information about the pirate was ICW-NET.

``We were clobbered,'' said Jordan. ``If you wanted to know anything about Blackbeard, it was us.'' Jordan has since teamed up with North Carolina Archives to provide a complete Blackbeard site with drawings and photos of relics found on the ship.

Jordan has entered so many sites now, he says he can build one in three days. Because he benefits as a sponsor listed on the site, he offers the service free. All he needs is information and photos.

``Once you own the dot com, you're in control then,'' said Jordan, speaking of the Internet domain. ``It's like owning a post office. You can carve up as many post office boxes as you want.

``Keep in mind we have some of the most distinctive community names in the world - Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk - you can't get any better than that.''

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