Princeton, NC

Princeton began as Boon Hill, the Johnston County town incorporated in 1861 around the Boon family plantation. It took the name Princeton in 1873, but that older name ties local history to a particular family and a particular patch of eastern Johnston County. US 70 runs along the northern edge, with Selma and I-95 about nine miles northwest and Goldsboro about eleven miles southeast. The route places Princeton between two larger destinations while leaving the town with a distinct small-town center of its own.

School and town traditions do a lot of the local stitching. Princeton Community Day arrives each May as a celebration of town involvement and pride. Princeton’s school story also has some staying power: the historic Princeton School was among North Carolina’s last consolidated schools, and the current arrangement keeps kindergarten through fifth grade in a building opened in 2008 while grades six through twelve remain at the original location. Everyday services include groceries, hardware, a drugstore, medical offices, and other practical stops. Princeton is the sort of place where the highway handles the through traffic, while the school, May festival, and familiar businesses keep the town’s own rhythm.