Creighton is a cheerleader for Edenton

Charlie Creighton had a promising career as a salesman for Caterpillar Equipment when he abruptly decided to resign and buy a business in Edenton.

Caterpillar paid well and gave him plenty of autonomy, and he did his work driving around in an air-conditioned company car dressed in a coat and tie. So, taking on the challenges of running a business with all its insecurities seemed like a dubious choice.

The idea seemed worse after his first day as Coastland Oil’s corporate president. After his first day on the job, he returned home covered in grease and oil.

“My wife, Susan, said, ‘What the hell have you done?’ She didn’t realize I’d come home all dirty and greasy. It was that old dream of going into business for yourself, and I seemed to be living the nightmare,” he said.

Talking to Creighton, there is little doubt that he would never go back to being an employee, but he finds it difficult to express what drew him to the life of an entrepreneur or what makes him continue to be in business today. It just happened that way, and once he experienced independence, there was no turning back.

Today, Creighton runs Colony Tire/Atlantic Distributors, selling tires wholesale to retail outlets and commercial clients like farmers, truckers and loggers. His companies employ 874 people in four states.

On April 18, the Edenton Chamber of Commerce honored Creighton by naming him its Businessman of the Year, recognizing his leadership role and his work on behalf of the community and its people.

Creighton is bullish on Edenton and is one of the biggest cheerleaders for its prosperity, development and tourism.

“I think we will get a second grocery store in the old shopping center because the bank has fixed and remodeled it,” he said. “Our own business — both our retail and commercial sides — are doing more business every month. Jobs are being created. Jimbo’s Jumbos Peanuts has grown tremendously. Albemarle Boats and Regulator Marine are back and humming again. Our great hospital is second to none.”

But some things trouble him. Creighton said the protests downtown every Saturday over moving the Civil War monument and a sign on U.S. Highway 17 calling out racism in the town put a drag on that progress.

“I know Edenton Town Manager Corey Gooden very well, and I tell him, ‘Corey, what in the world? How did you let this happen?’ He said they tried hard not to let it happen but couldn’t do anything.

“He said both sides refused to stop the protests during the recent Easels on the Green event despite 800 guests coming to participate,” Creighton continued. “All those people come to town, and they see that bunch of mess downtown. Those kinds of things are pitiful.”

But Creighton said he believes that business prosperity is the key to a better Edenton and he believes that prosperity is coming.

“If I’m thinking about opening up a new business, I can look at the new hospital, the new Herringbone Restaurant, that new paddle wheel dinner boat, and I can see that there are a lot of nice things happening in Edenton that weren’t here a couple of years ago. I think all that is going to encourage new business.”

By “paddle wheel dinner boat,” Creighton was referring to the 21-year-old, 99-foot Albemarle Queen, the dinner-excursion boat purchased by Harbor Towns Inc. The boat is on schedule to be operational for a private event in Edenton on May 26 and then for multiple cruises at the National Black Bear Festival in Plymouth on May 31 and June 1, a Harbor Towns press release said.

Creighton also talked about SAGA Construction and Development’s failure to renovate the Hinton Hotel property, allowing the building to become derelict.

“If SAGA doesn’t want to make that a boutique hotel or decide to do something else, they should not just let it rot,” he said. “I just don’t understand. How do people think that way?”

Creighton sees Edenton as bursting with untapped potential.

“I love Edenton. I just love it. I’m mystified that I’ve been here since 1970 and its the same population. I can’t understand why the population hasn’t doubled in the last five years, if not ten,” he said, adding that he believes that great things are on the horizon for the community.