"I mean, there isn't another facility in North America anything like this or ever has been like this for waterfowl," said executive director Mike Lubbock.
Its location in Scotland Neck may throw people for a loop.
"It's going to be a tremendous economic boom," said Scotland Neck Mayor Robert Partin. "I consider myself one of the luckiest mayors in the world."
Family friends brought the center's owners from England to the United States, to the mountains of Sylva, N.C., then to Scotland Neck and Sylvan Heights.
"That was probably one of the biggest assets of the place, really, was the water and plenty of it," said Lubbock.
There are 3,000 birds and more than 170 species at the center. There are only eight species of swan in the world, and all eight are there. North Carolina State University veterinary students are there, too -- to study and learn.
"One of the other things that we do is train people, and we got a lot of people from all over the world here," said Lubbock.
The Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park and Eco Center opens to the public next Saturday at noon.
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