The Coharie Tribe has lived on the Great Coharie River for centuries. Can a new initiative help reconnect the next generation to the water and their culture? The Great Coharie River (identified as the Great Coharie Creek on Google Maps) flows through the sandy ground of Sampson County, North Carolina. It’s the ancestral home of the Coharie Tribe. Between 1729 and 1746, intertribal and colonial hostilities caused the Coharie to move inland, where they found refuge in the area around the Great Coharie River. This marshy land was seen as undesirable by settlers since it wasn’t productive farmland. Coharie Tribal Administrator Greg Jacobs says when he’s on the Great Coharie River, he can tap into the emotions of his ancestors. The river started to change in the 1990s after the area was hit by back-to-back hurricanes. The storms brought down trees that fell across and into the river, changing its shape and making it difficult to navigate. A beaver population initially brought into th...