The speakers who followed described someone whose approach to tourism began with a simple, personal gift: making people feel welcome.
“She didn’t just promote a welcoming community. She helped make it,” said Wit Tuttle, director of Visit North Carolina.
Tuttle said visitor spending in Chowan County doubled during Nicholls’ years promoting the area, and Edenton became a destination known across the Southeast. But he considered her influence on people throughout North Carolina an equally meaningful achievement.
“While she represented a small county in North Carolina, her contributions to state tourism were anything but small,” he said.
Nicholls understood that Edenton had a story worth telling, Tuttle said. She brought pride, enthusiasm and dedication to sharing it, participating in statewide programs, offering her knowledge and lending a hand whenever asked.
Her warmth made an impression on his staff as well. So many colleagues wanted to attend the dedication, he said, that he had to limit the number who could make the trip.
“In an industry built around hospitality, she truly embodied what hospitality is supposed to mean,” Tuttle said.
Nicholls began working with the Edenton-Chowan Chamber of Commerce after moving to the area in 1990. She served as tourism director from 1992 until her retirement May 1, 2021, developing partnerships that showcased the region’s history, culture and natural surroundings. Upon her retirement, Edenton’s mayor proclaimed April 30 “Nancy Nicholls Day” in recognition of her 29 years of service.
At the dedication, those professional accomplishments shared the spotlight with smaller gestures that friends remembered just as clearly.
Jennifer Harris, ECU Health development manager, recalled flowers left on a desk or at the hospital reception counter, handwritten notes and homemade cookies that remained a favorite among those who knew Nicholls.
“Hospitality was more than a job to Nancy,” Harris said. “Nancy lived hospitality.”
Harris, who worked alongside Nicholls for many years, credited her relationships and perseverance with helping establish the foundation for Edenton’s continued tourism success. Yet she also remembered a humble colleague who would have been quick to share credit for any accomplishment.
Harris imagined Nicholls responding to the dedication by reminding everyone that the work had been a community effort.
There had already been moments, Harris said, when she wished she could call Nicholls for advice or share a prayer request. She hoped the bench would become a place where others could sit and remember the grace and kindness Nicholls brought to their lives.
Speaking for the family, Nicholls’ son Brandon thanked the community for honoring his mother and for giving her so much happiness in return.
“As much as she gave for the community, I think the community paid her back 100 times,” he said. “She absolutely loved it.”
He also answered a question raised during Harris’ remarks: What was the secret to those cookies?
“The cookie recipe, because I’ve asked, it’s from the bag of morsels,” he said, explaining that was always his mother’s answer.
It was a personal detail amid the tributes to a long public career. Along the waterfront she helped promote, the bench now offers a place to enjoy the view—and remember the woman whose welcome came with flowers, a handwritten note or perhaps a cookie.
