Engelhard is a very isolated rural community in Hyde County, North Carolina, economically dependent on seafood, small scale agriculture, and logging. In the mid-1980s the agricultural crisis, the decline in seafood landings, and changes in timber industry technology contributed to rising unemployment. Several decades of declining population and retail business closings had given the town an abandoned look. In 1986 local Rotary Club members formed the Engelhard Development Corporation (EDC) to seek solutions to the community's problems. At the same time, another group began work on restoration of a historic church (part of the largest rural Historic District in the country). A group of outside consultants created successful strategies for this second project and was then brought in on the economic development project. On the consultants' advice, EDC-generated funds by selling memberships, held a community meeting, and conducted a house-to-house survey of community attitudes and the nature of the local labor force. The resulting information became the basis for formation of task forces on jobs, recreation, beautification, and tourism. Backed by enthusiastic local support, these task forces proceeded to: (1) clean up the town; (2) hold successful annual Christmas parades and summer seafood festivals, which promoted tourism; and (3) organize a county softball league. Community pride has grown, there has been some increase in employment, and in 1988 Engelhard was a national winner in the "Take Pride in America" contest. (SV)