Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties. This post has been updated.

Brunswick County is the state’s southeast corner and in numerous ways a microcosm of the entire coastal region.

Brunswick has swamps, former plantations and a historical legacy that stretches back centuries. The county today is dealing with the effects of booming tourism, rapid growth and the threat of rising sea levels. And while its beaches may not be as famous as those in Carteret or Dare counties, and its towns are not as large as Edenton or New Bern, Brunswick County does share many of the traits that make coastal North Carolina such a fascinating region of the state.

Following the Tuscarora War, a number of English families settled along the rivers of central and southern North Carolina. One popular destination was the western side of the Cape Fear River near the South Carolina border. Sometime prior to 1728, Maurice Moore had reached the area and helped found Brunswick Town.

Moore had been a captain in the South Carolina militia and had become familiar with North Carolina in the fight against the Tuscarora. He settled along with his brother, Roger Moore, who built the famous Orton Plantation at Winnabow in 1735. Orton, which was enlarged in the 1840s, remains one of the best-preserved plantation homes in the state.

Brunswick Town became one of the colony’s most important towns over the next 30 years. It was a significant port and a seat of government, with governors Arthur Dobbs and William Tryon living in the town and attending its considerable church, St. Philip’s, the ruins of which can be seen today.

The county of Brunswick itself was formed in 1764 from New Hanover and Bladen counties. Its original boundaries were the Northwest Cape Fear River, the South Carolina boundary, the Atlantic Ocean, and a western line drawn near Waccamaw River and Juniper Creek, according to historian David Leroy Corbitt.

The late 18th century was a pivotal time in the history of Brunswick County. Brunswick Town faced competition starting in the 1730s with the formation of Newton on the other side of the Cape Fear River. Newton, which was incorporated as Wilmington in 1760, quickly outpaced its rival to the southwest.

Brunswick Town’s population declined. It was described by Scottish visitor Janet Schaw in her travelogue of North Carolina, where she stayed for nearly a year in 1775. Schaw wrote that Brunswick was “the best sea port in the province” but that “the town is very poor — a few scattered houses on the edge of the woods, without street or regularity.” The town was later abandoned after being burned during the Revolutionary War.

The burning of Brunswick Town led to a substantial southward shift in the county’s population. The town of Smithville was incorporated in 1805 and became the county seat three years later. It was the home of Fort Johnston, a colonial fort where Gov. Josiah Martin sought refuge before fleeing North Carolina entirely.

One of the county’s barrier islands also contained Fort Caswell, a Third System, or masonry, coastal fort built to protect the American coastline after the War of 1812. Benjamin Smith, the 16th governor of North Carolina, 1810-11, lived in Smithville and was buried in the town’s Burying Ground.

The antebellum period saw modest growth in Brunswick County as well as Smithville. The county received its first brick courthouse in Smithville in 1844. Several plantation owners in the country grew substantially wealthy, mainly through the cultivation of naval stores as well as corn and sometimes cotton. Well-known families in the county included the Smiths, Moores, and Drys.

Their success, of course, was built upon slave labor. More than 44% of the county’s population was enslaved in 1860 according to the Hergesheimer Map. The county was one of the few in the state that cultivated rice, a specialized process that used flooded fields and skills that enslaved people had brought from West Africa.

The Civil War renewed the Brunswick Town area. Confederates built Fort Anderson on the town’s ruins to protect the Cape Fear River and Wilmington from the Union blockade. Fort Anderson, along with Fort Caswell and the much larger Fort Fisher, helped form one of the Confederacy’s largest defensive formations. It held out until the last few months of the war. Much of Fort Anderson remains today and is accessible to tourists.

Brunswick County stagnated somewhat in the late 19th century. It avoided much of the industrial and commercial development of its neighbor to the east, New Hanover County. Brunswick’s population grew by only about 20% between 1860 and 1890.

The railroad did not reach the county seat until the early 1900s. But Brunswick still underwent some substantial changes. The most notable was the change of Smithville’s name to Southport in 1887, which heralded the growth of new industry and houses in the small town.

As the author of Southport’s National Register nomination form wrote, “In contrast with the slow and often stagnant growth of antebellum Smithville, the new town of Southport bustled with building activity …”

Tourism began to change Brunswick County’s fortunes starting in the 1930s. During that decade, beach development began in the county. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, completed in the 1930s, went through the county and facilitated water commerce. A bridge from the mainland to Oak Island spanning the waterway was completed soon after.

By 1958, Oak Island had a number of homes, businesses, and one of the state’s tallest lighthouses. Successful development on that island later inspired settlements on the county’s other barrier islands. The state incorporated six towns on Brunswick barrier islands between 1955 and 1975, which grew along with the nonincorporated, ferry-access-only community at Bald Head Island.

Tourists have also frequented several other historic and notable towns on the mainland. Brunswick Town became a state historic site in 1952 and attracts thousands of visitors each year. Southport has become known for its naval museum, historic sites and multiple locations from notable films. There is also Calabash, a town known throughout the country for its fried seafood.

A number of important people have called Brunswick County home. Many have been from Southport, including civil rights activist Bertha McNeil, baseball player Quinton McCracken, and military pioneer Margaret Craighill. Another was George Rappleyea, a businessman who helped organize the Scopes Monkey Trial and lived in Southport late in life.

Today, Brunswick County is a center for tourism and suburban development. It contains several bedroom communities for commuters to the thriving city of Wilmington. In Leland, the largest of these communities, the population grew 598% between 2000 and 2010. The southwestern corner of the county has also grown due to its proximity to Myrtle Beach.

More houses and communities have put strain on county resources and have exacerbated flooding caused by higher sea levels. Brunswick County’s prime location has bought it great benefits throughout its history, but this location may also fuel the challenges the county will face over the next few decades.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Wilmington is one of North Carolina’s best-known cities. Visitors to the state’s southern beaches pass through the city at the eastern end of Interstate 40. Many may be familiar with the Battleship North Carolina Memorial, or films and TV shows shot in the area, or some of the famous people who have called New Hanover County and its biggest city home.

Behind these relatively recent attributes and trivia are nearly three centuries of historic development.

Scenic Wilmington also is one of the state’s most historically important, in both a positive light and as the site of one of the darkest moments in North Carolina history.

Following the Tuscarora War in the early 1700s, English settlers began to move south and west throughout the area once occupied by that powerful Native American group. One of the earliest settlements was in present-day Brunswick County on the western bank of the Cape Fear River. The pre-Revolutionary success of that settlement, known as Brunswick Town, helped inspire a number of settlements on the eastern side as well.

Families such as the Moseleys, Swanns and Moores claimed large land grants and founded sizable plantations. As Lawrence Lee noted in his history of New Hanover County, “They were men of wealth and position who brought their families and slaves and settled on large plantations.” They grew rice and corn and harvested naval stores. The navigable Cape Fear River allowed them to quickly transport their products to market and become relatively wealthy as a result.

Early settlement led to a new county to facilitate commerce and ease legal burdens. In 1729, New Hanover County was formed from the southeast portion of Craven County. It was named after the House of Hanover, the German royal family that ruled England at the time. The county originally stretched westward to the extent of settlement and northward to the White Oak River, according to archivist and historian David Leroy Corbitt.

One important action by these early settlers was to form a town on the eastern bank of the Cape Fear River 30 miles north of its mouth. This town, first called New Carthage, soon became known as Newton. It was finally incorporated in 1760 and named Wilmington after the then-governor’s patron, Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington. Its potential as a major political center in North Carolina was clear by the 1740s, after it was made the county seat of New Hanover County. 

Wilmington soon became one of the most important cities in North Carolina. It was a center for patriotic sentiment during the Revolution and was home to Cornelius Harnett, the first leader of the state’s Committee of Safety.

Later in the war, the Burgwin-Wright House on Market Street in downtown Wilmington, now a museum, served as a headquarters for Charles Cornwallis as he planned the campaign that ended at Yorktown. The war also resulted in the burning and abandonment of Brunswick Town, which was never rebuilt and led to further growth for Wilmington and the upper Cape Fear.

The 18th and 19th centuries saw a number of changes in the boundaries of New Hanover County. It was first reduced because its enormous size had made travel to the court difficult. Onslow, Duplin, Bladen, and Brunswick were all formed from New Hanover between 1734 and 1764.

Later in the 19th century, the county shrank further with the formation of Pender County. Pender’s creation was less about helping local farmers and more about minimizing the political importance of New Hanover County, which by that time was a center of African American political power.

The resulting area was dominated by Wilmington. The city grew by nearly 10 times between 1800 and 1870. It was the largest city in North Carolina between 1830 and 1910 and became a center of political and cultural importance.

The city was home to several early leaders such as signer of the Declaration of Independence William Hooper, Gov. Edward B. Dudley and Congressman Timothy Bloodworth. Its importance in cultural matters was established by the construction of Thalian Hall, one of the first theatrical venues in the state.

During the Civil War, Wilmington became a nationally important site of blockade running. The city was a destination for ships travelling to and from Europe, particularly after the fall of the ports of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. Ships could quickly transport international goods to the city, where they could travel up the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad to supply Confederate armies in Virginia.

This economic activity was protected by Fort Fisher, an earthen fort known as the “Gibraltar of the South” for its ability to withstand Union cannonades. Fort Fisher survived a substantial assault in December 1864 before being taken over by a Union force of more than 10,000 soldiers and sailors a month later. Many historians consider this event to have heralded the end of the war three months later.

Following the war, Wilmington became a center of civil rights struggles and racial violence in North Carolina. The population was majority African American and the city became a Republican stronghold. One of its local leaders, Daniel Russell, a white Republican, was elected governor in 1896. The city had a biracial city council in the late 19th century and an African American-owned newspaper, The Daily Record, the only one in the country, according to David Cecelski and Timothy Tyson.

This political power was shattered in the 1898 Wilmington insurrection. Following a monthslong white supremacy campaign by state Democrats, a group of local white men led by Alfred Moore Waddell armed themselves, attacked the city’s African American residents and burned the offices of The Daily Record. They sought to lynch the newspaper’s publisher Alexander Manly and killed dozens of African Americans and forced hundreds of others to flee the city. The group also forced out the city council and replaced it with a group led by Waddell.

This usurpation remains the only successful coup d’état in American history. African Americans were soon restricted from voting and numerous social activities by the state’s new white supremacist legislature. Wilmington’s African American population decreased by thousands over the next two decades, partially because of the Great Migration and partially due to the memory of the 1898 insurrection.

The 20th century saw continued growth and development in New Hanover County, particularly for the county’s white population. Wilmington became a center for industry and the home of large companies like the pharmaceutical company PPD and Reeds Jewelers. It was bolstered by the construction of two bridges across the Cape Fear River, one in 1919 that was replaced in 1969 and another in 1980.

A new courthouse was built in 1892 at 316 Princess St., and a steel-frame skyscraper, the Murchison Building, was completed in 1914 at the corner of Front and Chestnut streets.

This period was also the beginning of substantial development on New Hanover County’s coast. A trolley line was built to Wrightsville Beach in the early 20th century. This line allowed tourists from Wilmington and beyond to enjoy the island’s beaches. The same process helped develop the other beaches of what became known as Pleasure Island, most notably Carolina Beach and Kure Beach.

The late 20th century was the heyday of movie production in Wilmington. The city was the site of the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, a film production company that was eventually bought by Carolco Pictures. These companies took advantage of loans and incentives offered by the state government and continued operating in Wilmington for decades. Well-known films shot in Wilmington include “Blue Velvet,” “The Crow,” and more recently, “Iron Man 3.” While De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and Carolco are no more, several film studios still operate in the area, including Screen Gem Studios and Dark Horse Studios.

Wilmington is one of the state’s largest and most economically successful cities. This status has resulted in numerous well-known people calling the city home. One of the most famous is probably Michael Jordan, who was born in Brooklyn but his family moved to Wilmington when he was a small child and lived in the area until Jordan was drafted from the University of North Carolina by the Chicago Bulls in 1984. Other famous area residents include country music legend Charlie Daniels, broadcaster Charles Kuralt, and Sammy Davis, father of the famous singer and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.

Wilmington has emerged from industrial and agricultural decline faster than nearly any other coastal area over the past two decades. It has reinvented its downtown with restaurants, shops in repurposed warehouses, and events such as ghost tours. The city is now a home of research thanks to several large local companies and UNC-Wilmington.

It is also becoming a cultural center for both the region and the state with the Battleship North Carolina and events such as the annual Azalea Festival, which is scheduled for Wednesday through Sunday.

Wilmington has embraced its public role in part by turning a critical light on its past. After decades of suppression, the city finally acknowledged the Wilmington insurrection before its 100th anniversary in 1998. There is now a memorial park dedicated to its victims.

Today, Wilmington is a center of tourism and economic development for the region. Like other coastal cities, residents are dealing with rising sea levels and the effects of sprawl. Wilmington’s expansion has led to substantial growth in nearby towns as area workers move farther out to find lower housing costs.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Visitors to the Crystal Coast often stop at the scenic town of Swansboro on their way down to Beaufort or Atlantic Beach. This town has become associated with the beaches and hamlets that have made Carteret County famous, but Swansboro is actually part of neighboring Onslow County, an area better known for its sprawling Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune than for its history or beaches.

From colonial leaders and war heroes to its miles of barrier islands and maritime forests, Onslow County may deserve greater recognition as a tourist destination along the North Carolina coast.

Onslow County was formed through the same migration that established other southeastern counties such as New Hanover and Pender. Following the Tuscarora War, English settlers moved north from South Carolina and south from the Albemarle region to settle near the Cape Fear River. These settlers used the river both for personal transportation and to carry their agricultural products and naval stores to oceangoing vessels. But the Cape Fear was not the only river in the region that afforded these benefits. Two others were the White Oak River and the New River, shorter than the Cape Fear but also deep and with its own stable inlet.

The presence of these rivers was a major impetus for the early formation of Onslow County. The first counties in North Carolina were wide tracts of land that sometimes extended for dozens or hundreds of miles. New settlers worked their way down major rivers and creeks from the first ports or towns. Eventually, these settlers found themselves several hours or days away from their courthouse and petitioned the colony for a new county. In 1734, this process occurred in the northeastern section of New Hanover County near New and White Oak Rivers, and a new county was formed.

The new county was named after Arthur Onslow, a powerful English politician and longtime speaker of the British House of Commons, as noted by historian David Leroy Corbitt.

The greater White Oak and New River areas became a locus for settlement in the mid-18th century. Families such as the Starkeys, Warburtons, and Grants reached the area and set up small settlements and plantations. By the late 18th century, the area had its first significant town. Swansboro was established in 1783 and named for Samuel Swann, one of the colony’s most accomplished political leaders. He served as speaker of the Colonial Assembly and was a member of William Byrd’s 1728 expedition to survey the boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia, according to the N.C. Highway Historic Marker program.

The antebellum period was one of exciting changes for Onslow County. Early in the 19th century, one of the county’s most famous historical figures made his name on the high seas. Otway Burns was a local shipbuilder and politician. At the beginning of the War of 1812, he became a privateer and commanded a ship, the Snap Dragon, which captured a number of prizes in the Caribbean and off Nova Scotia before being captured itself in 1814. Burns later built the first steamship in North Carolina. He died in 1850, and his grave in Beaufort is currently marked by a memorial topped with a cannon. A statue of Burns stands in Bicentennial Park in Swansboro. 

A few decades later, the population of Onslow County expanded to the southwest. Residents founded a new town at the site of the old courthouse on New River. Established in 1849 and named after the former president, Jacksonville was much smaller than Swansboro throughout its early history. It is home to the Pelletier House, named after turpentine magnate Rufus Ferrand Pelletier. This house, known for the spring in the backyard and its overarching porch, is the oldest structure in Jacksonville, according to the house’s National Register nomination.

The founding of Jacksonville only slightly affected the modest growth of the county. Onslow County’s population increased by about 50% between 1810 and 1860. What wealth the county had was a result of exploitation from slavery, with over 40% of the county’s population enslaved in 1860, according to the Hergesheimer map.

The Civil War mainly bypassed Onslow County. The Union was more interested in Fort Macon to the north and the greater Cape Fear area to the south. But there was some action in Swansboro and on the county’s barrier islands. County historian Alan Watson noted that after 1862 the White Oak River “constituted the division between the Union-occupied area in eastern North Carolina and the Cape Fear defense district of the Confederacy.”

Following the war, Onslow County was part of the 3rd Congressional District, which was at one time represented by Daniel Russell, a future Republican governor. After numerous fits and starts, a substantial railroad finally reached the county in 1891, according to Watson. The new railroad, which connected Jacksonville to Wilmington — and later New Bern — led to the formation of towns Holly Ridge and Verona.

During the early 20th century, Jacksonville continued its slow growth, with the Onslow County Courthouse that stands today — with renovations — being built in 1904. The entire region received a jolt in 1942 with the founding of Camp Lejeune. This Marine Corps base, one of the largest in the country, was located near Jacksonville because of the area’s water accessibility, cheap land, and barrier islands that were perfect for amphibious landings. It was named after John A. Lejeune, a longtime Marine Corps commandant.

Construction of the base also led to the end of the small New River village of Marines, which was swallowed up by the base and whose residents were forced to move. Camp Lejeune played a pivotal role in training and military preparations for both the Second World War and the Vietnam War. After 9/11, the base closed to civilian traffic along N.C. Highway 172, cutting off the small community of Sneads Ferry from the northern approach to Swansboro and Carteret County.

The development of Camp Lejeune has dominated much of Onslow County since the mid-20th century. Jacksonville continues to grow and has gained a variety of businesses such as international restaurants, used bookstores and a mall. Surrounding towns and communities have experienced a massive increase in population. The community of Sneads Ferry has had to adapt to new housing development and a sprawling business district on Highway N.C. 210, challenging its historic identity as a quaint fishing village.

The county’s periphery has had its own developments during the past five decades. Swansboro has benefited from its proximity to the Carteret County beaches. It is a center for historic homes and hosts the Mullet Festival, an annual tradition celebrating fishing and the completion of the White Oak River bridge, according to Carolina Coast Online. There has also been a considerable amount of nature-related tourism to the county. This natural tourism has extended back decades. Hammocks Beach State Park, founded in 1961, was one of the few state parks established for African Americans prior to park integration in 1964. 

Jacksonville and the small towns throughout the rest of Onslow County have been home to several remarkable people. These include former governor Edward B. Dudley, University of North Carolina sports announcer Jones Angell, former Notre Dame football coach Tyrone Willingham and astronaut Christina Koch. There was also Art Bell, a broadcaster and conspiracy theorist who founded the radio show “Coast to Coast A.M.”

The 21st century has brought new challenges to the county. County officials have had to contend with rising sea levels and eroding beaches, most notably at the northern end of Topsail Island. Camp Lejeune is still dealing with a contaminated water crisis that has made national headlines. But tourism is still booming, and the military base continues to bring new residents, jobs and funding.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

The North Carolina coast has several regions of world-renowned beaches and barrier islands. They offer miles of sand, substantial hotels, and a full host of shops, restaurants, and sites available for tourists and residents alike.

Along with the Outer Banks to the north and the Wilmington-area beaches to the south, the Crystal Coast, a tourism marketing term coined in the 1980s, has gained recognition over the past century for its abundant amenities.

The term has since come to also include neighboring destinations, but it mainly refers to the beaches of Carteret County, one of the state’s oldest counties with history dating back three centuries. Its history has been defined by war, industrial development and the tourism boom that has shaped so much of society on the North Carolina coast.

Following the initial establishment of North Carolina on the Albemarle Sound, colonial settlers began to move south and west to find more areas for tobacco cultivation and trade. Many went to cultivate the rich soils along the Neuse River and, by the 1720s, the Cape Fear and Tar rivers. The settlers displaced native peoples throughout this process, including the Tuscarora and Core.

Some colonial families decided to stay along the coast and settle near inlets. One of these settlements was the future Carteret County seat of Beaufort, settled near Beaufort Inlet in the 1710s and incorporated in 1723. Beaufort was the colony’s fourth incorporated town. Carteret County itself was founded a year earlier and named for Sir John Carteret, one of the Lords Proprietors, according to historian and author David Leroy Corbitt.

Beaufort was a port town, a center for ocean trade and a stop for ships navigating through Beaufort Inlet. But the port was isolated from the rest of the more prosperous areas of the colony and remained small throughout its early years. The one exception to its sleepy early beginnings was in 1747, when the town was captured by the Spanish as part of the War of Jenkins’ Ear between Great Britain and Spain. Local militiamen retook the town three days later and ended the Spanish threat.

Outside of Beaufort, the area remained isolated and rural. The island of Bogue Banks, popular today for its many tourist attractions, was barely inhabited throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. But on another barrier island here, one of the county’s earliest prosperous towns was Portsmouth, a town on Portsmouth Island near Ocracoke Inlet. The town had more than 500 residents in 1850 before losing most of them following the reopening of Hatteras Inlet in 1846. Portsmouth is now a ghost town and part of Cape Lookout National Seashore. The seashore also contains one of North Carolina’s tallest lighthouses, the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, originally built in 1804 and rebuilt in 1859.

On the mainland, communities such as Peletier and Broad Creek gained their first settlers in the 18th century. But rural isolation, the marshy environment, and a lack of large-scale shipping kept the inland population low. Carteret County had the second smallest population of any North Carolina county in 1790. The people who lived in the county supported themselves with shipping, agriculture and naval stores – pitch, tar and turpentine products harvested from the abundant pine forests.

Plantation agriculture and slavery were less prominent in this area than in surrounding counties. The 1860 census showed that 24.5% of Carteret County’s population was enslaved, the lowest percentage east of Moore County.

The mid-19th century brought an economic boost to Carteret County in the form of the North Carolina Railroad Co. Connecting the Piedmont and the coast, the new railroad was to have its eastern terminus in a new town. The tract that included what was then known as Shepard’s Point was platted as a grid design in 1854 and named Morehead City for its chief planner, John Motley Morehead, who had served as governor from 1841 to 1845. Morehead organized investors in the land development company, led the effort to raise private funding for the state-appropriated rail line and served as its first president.

Morehead City was incorporated Feb. 10, 1861. Meanwhile, the railroad also linked other Carteret County towns and communities, including Wildwood and Newport.

But the railroad and Carteret County’s strategic coastal location made it a prime target for the Union during the Civil War. The primary target was Fort Macon, which had been built in 1834 to protect the entry into Beaufort Inlet. Confederate troops stormed the nearly abandoned fort before North Carolina had even seceded, according to John G. Barrett. Less than one year later, Union forces landed at Hoop Pole Creek in present-day Atlantic Beach and captured the fort. The larger coastal area quickly fell to the Union. Farther inland, the Battle of Newport Barracks in February 1864 resulted in three Medals of Honor being awarded to a group of Union soldiers from Vermont. 

The next 75 years were a time of steady growth and development in Carteret County. Its population nearly doubled between 1860 and 1920. An effort to designate Morehead City a state port began in the 1920s and culminated with a $7.5 million appropriation in 1949. Beaufort became a center for tourism and marine research as well as shipping and fishing.  New funds into Beaufort from this growing prosperity led to the construction of a new courthouse for the county in 1907.

By the 1920s, Carteret County was becoming a tourist destination. The first bridge connecting Bogue Banks to the mainland was built in 1928 by a group of local investors who then sold the bridge to the state eight years later. The Morehead-Atlantic Beach bridge and the Emerald Isle-Cape Carteret ferry, which was replaced by a bridge in 1971, eventually led to hotels and fishing piers throughout the banks.

The central part of the Bogue Banks between Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beach received an early benefactor in 1917 when Alice Hoffman, a relative of Theodore Roosevelt, bought a large tract. Hoffman spent much of her life building up an estate on Bogue Banks and feuding with local fishermen, as noted in Kathleen McMillan Guthrie’s biography of Hoffman. The sale of Hoffman’s land after her death in 1953 led to considerable development and the eventual formation of the towns of Indian Beach and Pine Knoll Shores.

Growth on Bogue Banks occurred alongside development in other parts of the county. While Beaufort’s population remained small, it started to gain shops, restaurants and tourist attractions such as the North Carolina Maritime Museum. Newport’s population more than doubled in the 1960s, while the Down East communities such as Atlantic and Sea Level experienced growth and became centers for fishing and boating. Sea Level became the site for the national Snug Harbor Navy retirement facility, a home for retired merchant mariners that operated from 1976 to 2019. Newport was also aided by the construction of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in nearby Havelock, for which it became a site for housing. Reflecting this development and its growing tourist reputation, the term “Crystal Coast” was introduced in the late 20th century to describe the towns and beaches of the area. 

A number of remarkable people called Carteret County home in the 20th century. These included architect Bill Ransom Campbell, author Gerald R. Weeks, and Major League Baseball pitcher Lonnie Chisenhall, all from Morehead City. Other famous residents include Judge Algernon Marbley and Samuel Herring, singer of the band Future Islands. One famous Beaufort resident was Reginald Hawkins, civil rights leader and the first African American to run for governor of North Carolina. Another was Fairleigh Dickinson, a business leader who also became the namesake of Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Michael J. Smith, the pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger mission, which exploded soon after takeoff in 1986, was also from Beaufort.

Today, Carteret County is one of the centers for tourism in coastal North Carolina. There are dozens of well-known restaurants, recreational facilities, and hotels on Bogue Banks and elsewhere. Earlier this year, Food Network personality Guy Fieri filmed his family reunion special in the county, touring several of its restaurants and markets. Beaufort has won numerous “best small town” awards in the past decade, most notably one from Travel and Leisure magazine in 2014.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Craven County and Pamlico County may present one of the largest contrasts between neighboring counties in eastern North Carolina.

Craven County is one of the most urban, densely populated counties in the region. It is the home of the sizable city of New Bern and dozens of historic homes, shops and restaurants. Most of the counties surrounding Craven County are much smaller and almost entirely rural. Its eastern neighbor, Pamlico County, is one of the region’s newest counties and one of the state’s least populated.

Despite its sparse population and short history, Pamlico County is a hidden gem that offers both natural beauty and small-town charm.

Pamlico County was first reached by Europeans in the early 18th century at around the same time that the Swiss settled New Bern. It was originally the eastern section of Craven County. Unlike the prosperous area north and west of New Bern, much of the eastern section of the county was swampy with poor soil and inadequate transportation. The population grew more slowly, with most families focusing on the trade in wood products and naval stores instead of plantation agriculture.

By the early 19th century, the area that later became Pamlico County was beginning to develop its earliest towns. The communities of Oriental and Vandemere attracted their first settlers by this time. The county did not have its first incorporated town until 1857.

Pamlico County’s rural setting has led to a proliferation of small communities and interesting place names. Oriental’s name has a disputed backstory. Tradition states that the name came from a steamer, the Oriental, which was built in Philadelphia in 1861 and used as a federal transport ship in the first year of the Civil War. The ship ran aground near Bodie Island in 1862.

More than 30 years later, a post office was established on the Neuse River called Smith Creek. The postmaster’s wife, Rebecca Midyette, wanted the community to have a more fitting name. She either found the nameplate for the Oriental or saw it in an Outer Banks home. The name stuck.

Today the only Pamlico County structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places is China Grove. Likely built in 1803, China Grove was originally the home of Edward Carraway, a naval stores manufacturer who owned an extensive plantation. It is known for its sizable, two-tiered porch and prominent location near the mouth of the Neuse River, according to the house’s National Register of Historic Places listing.

Pamlico County was formed in the heated political conflict that characterized much of the Reconstruction era. White supremacists in the North Carolina General Assembly believed that creating a new eastern county with a majority white population would help them win elections in the 1st Congressional District. As a result, the state formed Pamlico County in 1872. According to David Leroy Corbitt, the county was formed from eastern sections of Craven and Beaufort counties.

After formation, Pamlico County’s population remained below 10,000 until 1970.

Its county courthouse reflected the area’s general privation. According to historian Joe Mobley, for its first five years “the county seat moved from place to place until the county commissioners finally agreed on one site.”

That site was Bayboro, where court was held in a rented building until a courthouse was built in 1893. The original courthouse was replaced by the current one built by the federal Works Progress Administration in 1939.

The 20th century brought new opportunities for the county. It grew alongside New Bern and benefitted from the construction of the Pamlico, Oriental & Western Railroad between New Bern and Oriental, completed in 1906. As a result, Pamlico County’s population grew by more than 20% between 1900 and 1910. One of the most notable firsts in Pamlico occurred in 1917, when Oriental operated the state’s first motorized school bus.

As noted in a highway historical marker essay, “the introduction of a motorized bus to deliver students from outlying areas to the schoolhouse was considered an organizational triumph.”

Pamlico County remained a quiet rural area throughout the late 20^th century. It gained several industries and had a modest amount of economic success. Oriental began to attract tourists interested in boating and maritime activities. A Neuse River ferry opened between Minnesott Beach and Cherry Branch, facilitating transportation to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and the beaches of Carteret County.

Arguably Pamlico County’s most famous native lived in the county during this time. Kevin Williamson grew up in Oriental and was influenced by his experiences there when he created the television show “Dawson’s Creek,” named after a nearby body of water popular as a recreation spot. Williamson also wrote the horror movie, “Scream,” and dozens of other movies and television shows.

Today, Pamlico County is defined by its miles of untouched swampland and water access. There are several tourist attractions such as marinas, Goose Creek Game Land, and the multiple camps and retreats at Minnesott Beach. Oriental is the site of the 2022 Southern Living Home, a house featured in the magazine’s October 2022 edition that is available for tours.

With its forests and quaint shops, marinas and restaurants, Pamlico County has become a destination for travelers and homebuyers seeking rural and small-town charm.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Coastal North Carolina is dominated by rural landscapes, water and small towns. Two counties in the state’s coastal zone do not even have a municipality, while two others have only one municipality with fewer than 900 people. The counties that do have considerable urban areas have a rich, fascinating history of development and diversity that stands out compared with their quieter neighbors. Craven County is one of these urban coastal counties.

Dominated by the city of New Bern, Craven has transformed from a colonial trading post into a center for industry and tourism since its incorporation three centuries ago.

Craven County was the third area of North Carolina permanently settled by Europeans. While the Albemarle Sound and the region near Bath Creek were home to English settlers, the Neuse River and Trent River attracted Swiss and German immigrants. These Swiss and Germans arrived in 1710 under the leadership of Baron Christoph Von Graffenreid. The explorer John Lawson laid out their town, New Bern, that same year. Craven County was formed two years later in 1712 from Bath County, according to David Leroy Corbitt.

New Bern’s settlement became the center of the Tuscarora War. It represented a major encroachment of Europeans into an area held by the powerful Tuscarora Native Americans. The Tuscarora killed Lawson, captured Von Graffenreid and devastated both New Bern and the other North Carolina town of Bath, according to historian David La Vere in his book, “The Tuscarora War.” An expedition from South Carolina finally ended the war in 1713 with a horrific massacre at the Tuscarora town of Fort Neoheroka.

Starting in 1766, New Bern became the capital of the North Carolina colony. It was a center for governance and the home of many of the colony’s most powerful families.

The town was where colonial governor William Tryon built his imposing palace in 1770, a construction project that prompted the colony-wide Regulator revolt. New Bern was also arguably where the American Revolution started in North Carolina. In May 1775, Tryon’s successor Josiah Martin was forced to flee Tryon Palace when a large mob gathered and threatened to tear down the gates. Martin’s flight was the unofficial end of royal control in the colony.

New Bern and surrounding Craven County had several natural advantages that helped them grow to substantial wealth during the antebellum period. The city is located at the confluence of two navigable rivers, the Trent and the Neuse. Those rivers flow through hundreds of miles of rich soil in Jones, Johnston and Lenoir counties as well as others nearby. Since those counties lacked substantial markets, New Bern was their connection to the rest of the world. 

Accordingly, the city’s population increased, and it was the largest in the state until the 1840 census. Wealth brought new buildings and expansion as well as a large population of enslaved people. Craven County had the 29th highest percentage of enslaved people in the state in 1860, according to the Hergesheimer map. It also had a large number of free African American residents, including prosperous barber and anti-slavery advocate John C. Stanly.

New Bern escaped much of the privation that affected other coastal towns such as Elizabeth City and Plymouth during the Civil War. It was captured by the Union in 1862 and held for the remainder of the war. Following the war, New Bern was economically overtaken by Piedmont towns that embraced industrialization more quickly. It sank to the seventh largest town by 1900. But New Bern still retained a substantial amount of wealth given its importance to the state’s still-dominant agricultural sector.

This wealth was reflected in a number of large government buildings and fine homes built throughout the city. The stately county courthouse, a Romanesque Revival building with a mansard roof, was completed in 1897. One of the largest private homes was the Blades House (1903), described by historian Catherine Bishir in her book, “Architecture of Eastern North Carolina” as “among the state’s prime renditions of the energetic synthesis of Queen Anne style massing and early Colonial Revival detail.”

The 20th century was a time of transition and reflection for New Bern. The city began to embrace industry and build on its railroad connections. According to a 1920 city directory, the city had four banks, 12 lumber companies, and six fertilizer manufacturers. The railroad, which reached New Bern in 1858, continued to expand. It brought development to the city and enabled the creation of the county’s other towns such as Havelock, Cove City and Dover. 

Despite this growth, it was clear that New Bern’s place at the top of North Carolina’s urban hierarchy was gone. This shift in the city’s fortunes pushed it to embrace its past in a way that few other North Carolina cities had. In 1945, the Tryon Palace Commission began fundraising to rebuild Tryon Palace, which had burned in 1798. Due chiefly to the efforts of local philanthropist Maude Moore Latham, the historically accurate palace opened to great acclaim in 1959. In the past few years, Tryon Palace has attracted over 200,000 visitors per year who pour millions of dollars into the local economy at hotels, shops, and restaurants downtown, according to newspaper articles and the Palace Foundation’s 2019 annual report.

Today, Craven County is one of coastal North Carolina’s most prosperous counties. It continues to attract industry and tourism, with sites such as Tryon Palace and the Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola. Havelock has grown rapidly with the expansion of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The county is also a popular stop for travelers on the way down U.S. 70 to Carteret County beaches and attractions.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Eastern North Carolina is a region dominated by agriculture, small towns, and miles of forests and swamps. One of the area’s oldest counties, Hyde County, also is one of its most wild and undisturbed.

The residents of Hyde County, both before and after European contact, took advantage of its natural resources and tried to use its swamps and rivers as efficiently as possible. But after centuries of trying to exploit this land, the current residents now see unspoiled nature as their greatest asset and many are trying to preserve it as much as they can. 

Hyde County’s first settlement by the English occurred in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. After establishing the colony of North Carolina north of Albemarle Sound, colonists moved south. Some built farms and a town in what became Beaufort County, while others settled east of Bath Creek to the Pamlico Sound. This area had relatively poor soil and was the domain of numerous Native American groups. Many of these groups were defeated in the Tuscarora War and moved away.

The eventual namesake of Hyde County came from the period of the war. The county was formed in 1705 and first named Wickham Precinct after an estate in England. The name was changed to Hyde County in 1712 to honor Edward Hyde, the North Carolina governor who requested help from South Carolina to fight the Tuscarora.

Throughout its history, Hyde County has been dominated by the large body of water known as Lake Mattamuskeet. Mattamuskeet is the largest natural lake in the state. It was long believed to have been the result of a meteor strike, although scientists now suspect the lake was formed by a massive peat fire.

The area around Mattamuskeet was home to a number of Native American groups prior to English contact. The Mattamuskeet Native Americans, along with nearby Corees, were forced onto a reservation by the English in 1715 following the Tuscarora War. Numerous attempts to drain the lake and build canals have been made since the 18th century. These attempts have substantially decreased the lake’s size.

Outside of the area around Lake Mattamuskeet, the county grew slowly. It lost its prosperous western half in 1729 with the formation of Beaufort County and much of its Outer Banks territory in 1870 to Dare County, according to historian Daniel Leroy Corbitt.

The Hyde County Courthouse reflects this shift in focus. Court was first held in Bath before moving to Woodstock Point on the Pungo River. The courthouse at Woodstock Point, which burned in 1789, left ruins that can still be seen in the Pungo River, according to the North Carolina Gazetteer.

The court later moved 15 miles east to Swan Quarter, which remains unincorporated. Hyde County’s next courthouse was built soon after the move in the 1850s and was described by historian Catherine Bishir in “A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina” as a “compact, stuccoed, 2-story brick building” with light roof decorations.” The building is one of the oldest courthouses in the state.

The 19th century saw farmers try to extract as much wealth as they could from the swamps of Hyde County, with little success. The county profited from slavery, however, with 37.4% of its population enslaved in 1860, one of the lowest percentages in eastern North Carolina. Many of these slaves worked in either smaller farms or forestry. They took advantage of hardy swamp woods to produce shingles. Areas drained by canals were viable centers of agriculture, although farmers never succeeded in draining the area’s largest lakes. Shipping also brought in a modest income on the Outer Banks. Ocracoke was adjacent to Ocracoke Inlet, a major inlet for oceangoing ships until the mid-1800s when more efficient inlets opened up. 

In the 20th century, the county continued to be defined by Lake Mattamuskeet and Ocracoke. Mattamuskeet became a center for hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing.

One reminder of the area’s history as a hunting destination is Mattamuskeet Lodge, located on the lake near the community of New Holland. Originally built as a pumping station in 1911, the building was renovated after 1934 following the federal government’s takeover of the Mattamuskeet area as a wildlife refuge. It is by far the tallest structure in the county and at one time could accommodate over 50 travelers, as noted in the building’s National Register nomination.

Twenty-five miles to the south of Mattamuskeet, Ocracoke Island attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. They arrive by ferry to enjoy the island’s beaches, seafood restaurants, and historic 1823 lighthouse.

Outside of these two areas, the 20^th century was mostly quiet for Hyde County. Its population decreased by almost half between 1900 and 2000.

The county’s main period of prominence occurred during the desegregation struggles of the 1960s. Between 1968 and 1969, African American residents protested the closure of two historically Black schools. They refused to send their children to any school, marched on Raleigh, and fought back against violent attempts to influence their actions.

According to historian David Cecelski, this battle ended up leading to a referendum and an extraordinary settlement with state officials in Raleigh that kept the schools open.

Today, Hyde County has embraced its natural heritage and status as a tourism center. It has the second-smallest population in the state with fewer residents than it had in 1800. There are few shops, restaurants, or businesses outside of the tourism industry in Ocracoke. But the county does have several visitor centers and areas for natural recreation. It has embraced its pristine beauty and remains a haven for nature lovers.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Beaufort County, a growing center for commerce and sightseeing in coastal North Carolina, is home to two of the state’s oldest towns, its oldest church and dozens of historic houses.

The county is a centerpiece of the Inner Banks, with a state park and several smaller parks to complement its colonial heritage. After centuries of agricultural and small-town life, its history is a big part of Beaufort County’s lure as a tourist destination.

The earliest permanent European settlement in North Carolina was north of Albemarle Sound in the mid-17th century. This colony was mainly based on tobacco and corn cultivation, which took up large swaths of land.

The growing population and soil exhaustion soon led the English to look for more places to settle in the Carolina land grant. One of these areas was along Bath Creek near the Pamlico River. Bath itself was formed in 1690 and laid out by the famed explorer John Lawson. It became North Carolina’s first incorporated town in 1705.

Bath County was organized to administer some of the territory south of Albemarle Sound. It was the first new county in the area. Bath County originally had three subdivisions known as precincts. The western precinct stretched from the Pungo River area to the Pamlico River, according to author David Leroy Corbitt. Originally known as Pampticough Precinct, it became Beaufort Precinct, named for one of the Lords Proprietor, in 1712. Beaufort County did not form until 1739 when Bath County was formally dissolved.

Bath determined the early history of Beaufort County. The town was a temporary home of the pirate Blackbeard. Arguably North Carolina’s most famous pirate, Blackbeard purchased a home in the town and lived there briefly after a pardon from Governor Charles Eden. Historian Robert E. Lee wrote that with Blackbeard in town, “Bath undoubtedly was a lively place … people came great distances to buy merchandise from foreign lands in the shops of Bath. The ordinaries (the hotels of colonial times) and bars were crowded with customers. The village came to life.”

The pirate could not abandon his lawless ways, however. After a few months, he rejected his pardon and took up piracy again off the North Carolina coast. Blackbeard was finally killed in November 1718 off the coast of Ocracoke, about 50 miles from Beaufort County.

Bath was burned during the Tuscarora War and remained small for the next three centuries. Its population reached a peak of 400 in 1900 and is now less than 250. But a number of remarkable early buildings still exist in this sleepy town.

It is home to the oldest church in North Carolina, St. Thomas Episcopal, built in 1734. In her history of eastern North Carolina architecture, Catherine Bishir wrote that the church was “a major accomplishment for its time and place, its small size and simplicity reflecting the challenges of building well in the colony in the early 18th (century).” Bath is also home to the Palmer-Marsh House, built in 1750 and famous for its two large chimneys, and the Bonner House built in 1835.

After the formation of Beaufort County, Washington eventually supplanted Bath and grew to become the center of commerce of the county. Known as “Little Washington,” it was the first town in the country named after George Washington. It was located on the Pamlico River and soon became a considerable town in the region. Washington became the county seat in 1785 and the courthouse was built a year later.

The antebellum period was one of considerable success for Beaufort County landowners. Agricultural wealth resulted from rich soil, especially near the Pamlico River, as well as the widespread practice of slavery.

Over 41% of Beaufort County’s population was enslaved in 1860, according to the Hergesheimer map. Washington and Beaufort County were also centers for free African Americans. According to John Hope Franklin, Beaufort County a considerable number of free African Americans for eastern North Carolina by 1830, a number that roughly doubled by 1860.

The county’s wealth and Washington’s strategic location made it a prime target for the Union during the Civil War. Washington was captured by Union troops in 1862 after Ambrose Burnside’s expedition against eastern North Carolina. It changed hands again in 1864 before falling back under Union control in the final months of the war.

Beaufort County remained dependent on agriculture throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Tobacco cultivation gave way to peanut and later soybean farming. Cotton farming was also prevalent in the county, with farmers cultivating 11,785 acres according to the 1880 census.

Washington eventually developed into one of eastern North Carolina’s most prosperous small towns. Its burgeoning waterfront hosted considerable business in shipping and shipbuilding. Washington was joined in the ranks of Beaufort County towns by Belhaven, which was incorporated in 1899 and later became the second-largest town in Beaufort County.

In addition to agricultural and commercial success, Washington also was home to a number of well-known people. In the 19th century, some of these residents were connected to politics. Churchill C. Cambreleng, who moved to New York as a teenager, became a noted federal representative and key ally of Andrew Jackson. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. described him as the “crony of (Martin) Van Buren … a small man, inclining toward portliness, alert in expression, friendly in manner …”

Other former residents of the county included Tillie Ehringhaus, wife of Gov. J.B. Ehringhaus and Woodrow Wilson’s Navy Secretary, News & Observer publisher and white supremacy propagandist Josephus Daniels. Those who called Washington home in the past century included politician Henry Covington Bonner, namesake of the Bonner Bridge, and NBA stars Dominique Wilkins and Bam Adebayo. Actor Murray Hamilton, who gained fame for playing the mayor in the 1975 Steven Spielberg film “Jaws,” was also from Beaufort County.

Today, Beaufort County is reorienting its economy to focus more on tourism. Goose Creek State Park attracts about 275,000 visitors yearly, including hikers, campers and kayakers. Washington is home to shops, bed and breakfast inns, and the Bank Bistro, a regionally known restaurant located in an 1854 bank. Belhaven also has a popular restaurant and several B&Bs.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Coastal North Carolina is made up of a wide variety of historic towns, marshes, sounds and beaches but only a small percentage of the coastal area is the Outer Banks, that set of barrier islands most tourists consider when they think about the state’s coast.

Much of the Outer Banks is in Dare County, which stretches from Old Caffey’s Inlet south to Hatteras Inlet, and west on the mainland to the Alligator River, according to “The formation of the North Carolina counties, 1663-1943” by David Leroy Corbitt.

Dare County played a key role in two early North Carolina settlements. It was the site of the Sir Walter Raleigh colonies, the first attempts by the English to permanently settle in the New World. The last of these colonies, John White’s 1587 colony, disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590.

Eighty years later, the land was part of the original Albemarle settlements. One of the earliest Albemarle land grants was in 1663 to one of the Lords Proprietor, Sir John Colleton, for the Outer Banks island now known as Collington Island. This plantation was not profitable for agriculture and soon failed. But it introduced the practice of livestock cultivation on the Outer Banks, a popular method of economic activity since animals on islands did not need to be fenced.

Life on the Outer Banks changed little for the next two centuries.

A small number of residents on the mainland farmed commercially, but most made their living through commerce, livestock and fishing. There was a modest number of African Americans living in the county. Tyrrell County, of which most of Dare County was then a part, had an enslaved population that was 33% of the total population according to the 1860 Hergesheimer map, one of the lowest percentages in eastern North Carolina.

The area received a jolt in 1861 with the beginning of the Civil War. Union armies captured Hatteras and then Roanoke Island in 1862 in a major operation led by Union general, Ambrose Burnside.

Hatteras was also supposed to be the center of a new loyal government for the state in 1861. The government never received support outside of Hatteras, however, and fell apart within a few months. During the war, Roanoke Island became a center for settlement known as the Freedmen’s Colony, where plantations were seized and handed over to freed African Americans.

Although Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island only lasted until the end of the war, African Americans continued to play a role in the county long afterwards.

While many left due to a lack of arable land, some African Americans stayed. One was Richard Etheridge, who lived on Roanoke Island before eventually enlisting in the Union Army and being deployed to Texas.

After the war, Etheridge came back and led the Pea Island Lifesaving Station, the only all-African American crew in the lifesaving service. Etheridge served on the post for 21 years, dying  on the job in 1900. The Coast Guard, the successor to the United States Life-Saving Service, awarded Etheridge and his crew the Gold Lifesaving Medal in 1996, and a statue honoring Etheridge was dedicated in Manteo in 2010.

In 1870, the eastern section of Tyrrell County pushed for new local representation. Many residents on the Outer Banks were miles away from the county courthouse in Columbia. They received a new county that year named for Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World. The formation of Dare County led immediately to the establishment of Manteo, the county seat, where a courthouse was built in 1904.

Versions of the county’s two major lighthouses, Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island, were built that decade and have served as symbols for the Outer Banks ever since. County formation also set in motion a uniquely loose governing structure, owing to the difficulty of transportation in the mostly aquatic county. As David Stick wrote in his history of Dare County, “As recently as the 1940s it was frequently said that there were two ways to do things in North Carolina: either the Dare County way, or the way they were done in the other ninety-nine counties.”

The early 20th century witnessed several significant moments in the history of Dare County. In 1903, the Wright Brothers made the first successful manned, powered flight from a particularly tall dune at Kill Devil Hills. This great achievement led to the county being internationally known, with a triumphant monument built overlooking the beach in 1932. The monument, Wright Brothers National Memorial, administered by the National Park Service, became well known in its own right and was the scene of the climax in the 1983 science fiction film, “Brainstorm.”

The Wright Brothers brought fame and a handful of tourists to the Outer Banks. But a construction project finished in 1928 changed the area forever. Once the first span bearing the name opened, the Washington Baum Bridge turned Dare County into one of the most visited areas in the state. The current Baum bridge was completed in 1994.

That first bridge was soon joined by the Wright Memorial Bridge in Currituck County in 1930 and, later, the Bonner Bridge in 1963. David Stick notes that as a result of bridge construction, the developed areas of Outer Banks beaches expanded from around a mile in the 1910s to 75 miles by 1970.

The past 70 years have seen considerable buildup throughout Dare County.

David Stick, the historian, became a major developer of the community known as Southern Shores. Dare County’s population as of 2021 is 37,826, a 685% increase from 1950, and more than 10 times the population of neighboring Tyrrell County. The only areas that have escaped the influx of tourists and new residences are the swamps on the mainland and the areas protected by the federal government.

Much of the northern tip of Roanoke Island is part of the federal Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, which operates the theater where the outdoor drama, “The Lost Colony” is staged every summer. There is also a wildlife refuge on Pea Island as well as the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the first national seashore.

Dare County, unlike a number of other coastal counties, has substantial economic activity and nearly as many tourists as its infrastructure can handle. There are more restaurants in one small Outer Banks hamlet than in entire Albemarle region. But Dare County is facing the increasingly evident effects of climate change and rising sea levels. Balancing the desires of tourists with the need to remain resilient and protect natural resources will continue to be a challenge.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Tyrrell County in North Carolina’s Albemarle region was formed in the earliest years of Colonial settlement, but Tyrrell does not have the historical reputation of other early counties.

It has the smallest population in North Carolina and is known more for its animals and creeks than its historic sites. Despite its reputation as a large swamp mostly devoid of people, Tyrrell has a fascinating history that has kept settlers and visitors coming for the past three centuries.

Following the establishment of Albemarle County in the 1660s, settlers began to move west and south in search of fresh lands for corn and tobacco production. Many of these settlers ended up on the southern side of the Albemarle Sound. At first, these areas were part of the original North Carolina counties: Chowan, Pasquotank, Perquimans, and Currituck. But in the 1720s, the population grew to a point where settlers required representation in a more accessible court. 

These men and women were granted a new county in 1729, one that extended from the Roanoke River to the Atlantic Ocean north of Bath County, according to “The formation of the North Carolina counties, 1663-1943” by David Leroy Corbitt. The county was named after Sir John Tyrrell, a lord proprietor who had died that year. Over the next 150 years, Tyrrell County’s territory was reduced substantially. Its western third became Washington County in 1799, while the eastern third became Dare County in 1870.

Tyrrell County was one of the poorest and most sparsely populated in all of North Carolina. The vast majority of the county was swampland. Swamps had to be drained with ditches and canals to produce any sizable farmland.

A few planters tried their hand at this arduous project. Most notable among them were Ebenezer and Charles Pettigrew, who tried to develop the area between Lake Phelps and the Alligator River with some success. These efforts led to a limited network of plantations that grew primarily corn and wheat. Prominent residents helped establish Columbia, which is the lone incorporated town in Tyrrell County and situated on the Scuppernong River in the northern section of the county.

The Scuppernong River also became famous at this time for its connections to the scuppernong grape. Scuppernong grapes are a bronze variety of the more widespread muscadine grape. This grape grows throughout North Carolina, but it was first written about in connection to the river in the early 19th century. Since that time, scuppernongs have become a well-known variety of grape and have been used in juices and wines. The scuppernong grape was named the state fruit of North Carolina in 2001.

The work of draining and eventually tending the fields of Tyrrell County was done mostly by enslaved African Americans. They made up a third of the population in 1860, according to the Hergesheimer Map. A considerable number of free African Americans also lived in the county’s swamps. These forbidding areas, unsuitable for agriculture and lightly populated, sustained colonies of runaway slaves and other African Americans, similar to the larger groups living in the Great Dismal Swamp.

The Civil War mostly overlooked Tyrrell County. Its main contribution was J. Johnston Pettigrew, a respected Confederate brigadier general and member of Tyrrell’s Pettigrew family. Pettigrew participated in the Peninsula campaign and was a leader of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. He died from wounds sustained after Gettysburg, his loss acknowledged by Robert E. Lee as a severe blow to the Confederate Army. There is today a building on the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill campus named after Pettigrew.

Following the Civil War, development in the county remained slow. Tyrrell’s population decreased between 1860 and 1920.

A notable project during that era was the construction of the current county courthouse in Columbia. This courthouse, completed in 1903, is in the Romanesque Revival style and made of brick with arched windows and gabled dormers, according to its National Register of Historic Places nomination.

According to Alan D. Watson, writer of “Tyrrell County — A Brief History,” the county was worried about the potential of fire and banned most events from the courthouse, including “entertainment, ice cream supper, or anything of the kind.”

One of Tyrrell’s most famous residents, Edward Warren, did much of his work during this period. Born in Tyrrell in 1828 and afterward raised in Edenton, Warren became a celebrated doctor and medical leader in North Carolina, eventually becoming the state surgeon general. He left after the Civil War and went to Egypt, where he served for several years as an Egyptian governor’s personal doctor. Warren then spent the rest of his life practicing medicine in France, where he died in 1893.

In his memoir, “A Doctor’s Life in Three Continents,” Warren recalls how he gained the knowledge of his life in “the swamps of Carolina, the battle-fields of Virginia, the sands of Egypt, and the quartiers of Paris.”

In the mid-20th century, Tyrrell County began to benefit from its natural beauty and its proximity to other attractions. U.S. Highway 64, which connected the Triangle to the Outer Banks, came through Tyrrell in the 1920s and 1930s. This highway brought thousands of visitors each year through the county and eventually through the town of Columbia. The route, along with N.C. Highway 94 connecting Tyrrell to Hyde County, served as Tyrrell’s “windows to the outside world” according to Watson. 

Tyrrell mostly failed in its attempts to become a center for industry. It was too rural and remote from other population centers. In addition, the attempts at industry that did occur, along with large-scale agriculture, polluted the pristine natural areas throughout the county.

Residents fought back, and as a result, the county eventually became the site of new state parks and wildlife refuges. Pettigrew State Park, founded in 1939, and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, founded in 1990, began attracting visitors with miles of hiking trails, accessible rivers, and hunting opportunities.

Today, Tyrrell is mostly known for its natural beauty and its sparse population. Columbia offers a few amenities, such as restaurants and a sizable antique store, but most of Tyrrell County is dedicated to outdoor exploration and wildlife. There are nearly as many bears in the county as there are people. Visitors can explore miles of hiking and kayaking trails and engage in a wide variety of outdoor activities. Its natural wonders have defined settlement in Tyrrell County for centuries and will likely remain the basis of its economy for years to come.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Most of the earliest English settlers in North Carolina lived on the northern side of the Albemarle Sound. Their settlements built the foundation of North Carolina and evolved into the Colony’s first towns and political centers.

At this same time, the English were settling slightly to the west of the Albemarle Sound near the Chowan River. One of the first areas in which they built homes and plantations later became Bertie County. This county, which turns 300 years old this year, has been a center of political leadership, agricultural wealth and local tourism ever since the earliest times in Colonial North Carolina.

English settlement of the Cashie River and areas west of the Chowan River began in the mid-17th century. Some of the earliest immigrants such as Nathaniel Batts and Samuel Stephens lived near the confluence of Salmon Creek and Chowan River. Settlers following their lead moved either south from Virginia or west from the Albemarle region. They established corn and then tobacco plantations. These efforts were relatively successful, as farmers could take advantage of the rich alluvial land of the Cashie, Roanoke and Chowan rivers.

Plantations also used these rivers for transportation and connections with Colonial government on the eastern side of the Chowan. In addition to agriculture, the county produced staves and other wood products from its abundant timber resources.

The area that became Bertie County also played a strategic role in the Colony’s early treatment of Native Americans. While the earliest settlers bought land from local Native Americans and coexisted with them, outright theft and exclusion soon became the English policy. Tensions caused by this policy led to the Tuscarora War of 1711-1713. After the English victory, the Tuscarora, who had signed treaties with the Colony, were granted a reservation in present-day southern Bertie County known as Indian Woods.

In his history of Bertie County, Alan Watson notes that by 1801, “finding little sympathy among the white populace and having their land taken in (a) callous fashion, the aged, dwindling remnant of the Tuscarora (at Indian Woods) soon proved ready to move northward.” The Tuscarora sold the last rights to their land in 1831.

Following the Tuscarora War, the region west of the Chowan River quickly gained enough English residents to petition for a new county. In 1722, that petition was granted. A new county was formed, with its eastern boundary being the Chowan River and its western boundary being the “limits of the government,” according to Daniel Leroy Corbitt. Bertie County was named after two Lords Proprietor of North Carolina, James and Henry Bertie.

The centerpiece of town settlement in Bertie County was Windsor, formed at the head of navigation of the Cashie River. Windsor, named for the royal castle in England and incorporated in 1768, was one of the last towns in North Carolina sanctioned by the British monarchy. It joined other Colonial towns established in the 1760s including Salem, Winton and Charlotte. Windsor became the county seat of Bertie County in 1774. The present courthouse off King Street was built in 1889.

Bertie County was an economically successful antebellum county. It became the site of several plantations and plantation homes that have survived to the present day. The most notable was Hope Plantation, built in 1803 by future North Carolina governor David Stone. There was also Rosefield, built in the mid-18th century — present building first constructed circa 1786 — and at one point the home of William Blount, one of North Carolina’s three signers of the Constitution.

Blount later, as a senator from Tennessee, was found to have committed treason by plotting to hand French territory in the South over to Britain. “When will we cease to have Judases?” Abigail Adams wrote in a letter to her sister when she learned of Blount’s plans. Blount later became the first and only senator to be expelled from Congress outside of the Civil War years.

Bertie County was mostly spared during the Civil War. It did not suffer a destructive fire like Winton or a significant battle like Plymouth. But following the war, the county’s economy was devastated like the rest of the state. Planters had to shift away from previous staples and toward newer crops such as peanuts and later soybeans. Bertie County eventually became the leading peanut-producing county in the state.

The political system shifted as well. In the years after Reconstruction, the county was in the 2^nd Congressional District and was represented by two African Americans, Henry Cheatham and George White, during the 1880s and 1890s. Bertie remains one of 20 majority-minority counties in the state.

The 20th century saw Bertie County continue the slow, mostly rural growth that characterized much of eastern North Carolina. Bertie County did not turn toward industry at the same scale as Plymouth or Elizabeth City. However, the county’s agriculture and location near U.S. 64 meant that it did not remain as isolated as Gates County to the north. Instead, Bertie’s towns mostly stayed small and continued with the same stores and patterns that had always characterized town life.

Despite the county’s slow growth, there were several influential people who hailed from Bertie County during the 20th century. These included Negro Leagues pitcher Willie Wynn, actor Jeorge Bennett Watson and University of North Carolina leader George T. Winston. There was also Joanna Houston Ransom, an influential university administrator who once helped lead the association of African American fraternities and sororities known as the Pan-Hellenic Council.

As for important businesses, one of North Carolina’s most well-known barbecue restaurants, Bunn’s Barbecue, opened in Windsor in 1938. Bunn’s received recognition in 2013 as one of LocalEats’s best barbecue restaurants in America. The Bertie County Peanuts company, Powell & Stokes, is also famous. In 2013, according to the Winston-Salem Journal, “the company shipped nearly 200,000 pounds of packaged peanuts as far away as Japan.”

The agricultural focus of previous decades has shifted somewhat in recent years, particularly in Windsor. The town of Windsor and its businesses have attempted to turn the small town into a tourist destination. They have done so by taking advantage of the natural environment of the town and its unique attributes. The town has publicized Livermon Park and its connected miniature zoo. It has also built tree houses on the Cashie River that appeal to campers and kayakers.

Bertie County today is in an interesting middle ground between eastern North Carolina regions. It is close enough to U.S. 64 and Elizabeth City to benefit from some beach and town development. But it is far enough away to retain much of its agricultural heritage and small-town charm.

The construction of Interstate 87 has the potential to increase Bertie County’s connections to Norfolk and the Albemarle region. But for now, it appears that the community will continue as a farm county with a niche tourism business for the foreseeable future.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

The earliest permanent settlement of North Carolina by Europeans occurred north of the Albemarle Sound. But increased migration and the desire for land soon pushed those settlers outside of this limited area.

The men and women who moved south of the Sound found a swampy, inhospitable region. Their perseverance helped create Washington County, at one time a prosperous county that gave the state several of its most famous leaders.

The story of Washington County is one of isolation, success and an eventual renewal on the banks of the Roanoke River.

Following the earliest settlement of the Albemarle region in the late 17th century, English immigrants to North Carolina craved more arable land for tobacco cultivation. While some went west, others moved south across the Albemarle Sound.

Early North Carolinians also secured land grants on several of the area’s major rivers. One of these was the Roanoke River, which starts in Virginia and enters North Carolina near present-day Roanoke Rapids. The community that later became Plymouth, located on a bend of the Roanoke River, was first settled in 1727, according to the North Carolina Gazetteer. Other communities like Roper and Mackeys grew up around the county’s creeks and on the sound. 

The area south of the Albemarle Sound remained sparsely populated for several decades. Over time, an increase in population led to the need for more counties. In 1729, the section of North Carolina north of former Bath County and south of Albemarle Sound became Tyrrell County. In 1799, Tyrrell County’s westernmost section became Washington County, named for George Washington.

According to “The formation of the North Carolina counties, 1663-1943” by David Leroy Corbitt, the eastern boundary was a line “beginning at Bull-point … to the centre of the Indian swamp, where the road crosses … [extending] to the west end of lake Phelps… to [the] Hyde county line.” An 1801 annex gave Washington County all of what was then known as Indian Swamp.

In the antebellum period, Washington County was defined by some of the largest plantations in North Carolina. The Roanoke River and Albemarle Sound were ample sources of transportation. Tobacco and corn were planted in the rich soil of river-adjacent districts. The county also had communications with the northern side of Albemarle Sound by way of Mackey’s Ferry. The ferry operated for more than 200 years and was a key link between the older communities north of the Albemarle and the growing regions to the south and west. 

The most prized plantation in the county was Somerset Place, which was founded by a group led by Josiah Collins on Lake Phelps in the 1780s. According to the plantation’s National Register of Historic Places nomination, Collins was a political leader in the state who acquired a massive amount of land, built mills, and introduced agricultural methods new to North Carolina such as rice cultivation. A nearby plantation owner, James Johnston Pettigrew, became a famed Confederate general that was killed at Gettysburg.

As in the rest of the state, slave labor was prevalent. Over 40% of the county’s population was enslaved, according to the Hergesheimer map of 1860. Somerset Place has become noteworthy not only as a center for antebellum wealth but also a site of memory for the hundreds of enslaved African Americans who lived there in the 19th century.

In the 1980s, historian Dorothy Spruill Redford traced the lives of many of these families and helped organized a reunion of around 1,500 descendants of slaves and their owners. The reunion garnered national attention and a number of prominent visitors, including the North Carolina governor and “Roots” author Alex Haley, according to the New York Times.

In his introduction to Redford’s “Somerset Homecoming,” Haley wrote that when he learned of the project, “I was thrilled — thrilled not just at what was happening there that day, but for the connections that such a gathering of families spoke of — for the thread that ran back through the generations and will most surely run ahead into the future.” Redford’s work transformed the interpretation of slavery at Somerset Place and other plantations throughout the South.

During the Civil War, Plymouth played an important role in an often-ignored campaign late in the conflict. In 1864, the Confederacy attempted to take back eastern North Carolina from the Union. Confederate Gen. Robert F. Hoke, along with the ironclad ram Albemarle, launched an exceptional raid that defeated Union leaders Henry W. Wessells and Charles W. Flusser and led to Confederate control of Plymouth.

The victory was short-lived, for Hoke was recalled back to Virginia a few months later and the Union reoccupied the town for the remainder of the war. Research has shown that the Confederates were also responsible for war crimes against African Americans after recapturing the area.

Following the war, Washington County embarked on an economic project like those of surrounding counties in eastern North Carolina. Much of the county remained agricultural. Tenant farming replaced the plantation system, and some farmers moved from tobacco and corn to peanut and truck farming. But in some areas, industry began to take a hold.

This industry centered on Plymouth, where the population doubled between 1900 and 1910. Plymouth became a center for the manufacture of wooden handles, lumber, and paper. Industrial prosperity led to the construction of the neoclassical Washington County Courthouse in 1919.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, numerous notables called Washington County home. These included stage director Augustin Daly, author and activist Don Brown, and NFL linebacker Charles Bowser.

Comedian J.B. Smoove, known for his work on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” was born in Plymouth and often visited his maternal relatives there.

These famous residents did not lead to prosperity in the county, however. Following the decline of industry, Washington County became one of the poorest in the state. Unemployment remained high and the town of Plymouth emptied out, losing population every decade from 1970 to the present.

Today, Washington County is showing signs of renewal. Farms still dominate the landscape, and agriculture remains the primary economic engine. But the county is also starting to attract tourism. Somerset Place and Pettigrew State Park attract thousands of visitors each year. Plymouth has been the site of new development, especially on its waterfront. There are new restaurants and several museums in the town, along with several historic restoration projects.

The county’s towns also benefit from Outer Banks traffic because of their location on U.S. 64. But because of its distance from the beach or major towns such as Elizabeth City or Greenville, Washington County will likely remain a testament to North Carolina’s agricultural, small-community past.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

The region around the Albemarle Sound was the first part of North Carolina to be settled by Europeans, but they quickly expanded outside of that region and moved on to both the south and the west.

One area they quickly settled in, later named Hertford County, gained an identity all its own over the next three centuries. Although it is small and still mostly rural, Hertford County remains one of the most vibrant, successful counties in the otherwise economically challenged region of northeastern North Carolina.

The area that became Hertford County, home to the Chowanoke and later Meherrin Native Americans, was an early frontier for the colony of North Carolina. It was settled by Virginians moving south and North Carolinians moving west once they started to exhaust the most fertile land east of the Chowan River.

The first European land grants in the area date from 1710. Hertford County was formed in 1759 from sections of Bertie, Chowan and Northampton counties. According to the Colonial Records of North Carolina, the county was formed because the large size of existing counties “render[ed] it grievous and burthensome to many of the Inhabitants thereof to attend the Courts of Justice, and other Public Meetings appointed therein.”

The county was named after Francis Seymour Conway, Marquis of Hertford, whom David Leroy Corbitt described as a nobleman and soldier.

Hertford County grew prosperous during the antebellum period. It was a rural county, focused on tobacco and corn cultivation. Two navigable rivers, the Chowan and Meherrin, connected the county to Virginia. Residents used the rivers to send their produce downstream and also receive goods from southside Virginia. Where bridges were not an option, they used ferries. One of the last cable ferries in North Carolina, Parker’s Ferry over the Meherrin River, was still operational as of 2020.

The county’s wealth was produced using the work of enslaved and free African Americans. Hertford County had the ninth largest percentage of slaves in the state according to the 1860 Hergesheimer map compiled by Edwin Hergesheimer using information from the 1860 census to show the distribution of the enslaved population of the southern states. That proportion, 53%, was more than every other county north of the Albemarle Sound, except for Bertie at 58.6% and Chowan at 55.5%.

The county’s wealth enabled the construction of stately homes throughout Hertford, most notably in the town of Murfreesboro. Several of these homes still stand today, including Melrose built in 1805 and the Freeman House built in 1810. Murfreesboro grew along with the county seat of Winton, incorporated in 1766.

The courthouse in Winton was burned in 1862 and rebuilt in 1875. That historic structure was torn down in 1955 and replaced with the modernist building currently located on Justice Drive.

One of the most well-known institutions in the county, Chowan University, began during the antebellum period. It started as Chowan Baptist Female Institute in 1848 and became coeducational in 1931.

The hallmark of the school in the antebellum period and today is the McDowell Columns building. Catherine Bishir and Michael T. Southern, in “A Guide to the Historic Architecture of North Carolina,” described the Columns building as a massive one whose size is emphasized by eight fluted columns and a sizable cupola on top.

The Civil War devastated Hertford County more than many other counties in the Albemarle region. Winton became the first town in North Carolina to be burned by the Union.

In February 1862, Union troops under Ambrose Burnside led an expedition to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and, after facing stiff resistance from the town, set it ablaze. According to the North Carolina Highway Historic Marker Program, the act was controversial and set a precedent for later examples of “total war” throughout the next three years.

Following the war, Hertford County had to change its economic model. Slavery was over. There were few financial resources and no sizable towns. As in much of the Albemarle region, tobacco was no longer profitable. The county responded by turning to peanut cultivation and truck farming throughout its rural areas. Residents also embraced industry more than surrounding counties such as Gates or Bertie.

The town of Ahoskie, incorporated in 1893, became a site of industry for the county. Ahoskie grew up as a stop on the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad. It housed a basket factory and a sawmill that employed 100 employees in the early 1900s as noted in the historic register nomination for the Ahoskie Historic District.

The 20th century in Hertford County was defined by a shift in growth toward Ahoskie. This town currently has about 4,800 residents, more than any town north of the Albemarle Sound except Elizabeth City. Murfreesboro also grew along with Chowan College.

The 19th and 20th centuries saw many famous residents of the county and its college.

Notable people from Hertford County include diplomat John H. Wheeler, tennis pioneer Julian Myrick, and Richard Gatling, inventor of the Gatling gun, who was born in the small town of Como.

As for Chowan University, the most famous alumnus of the college is Nate McMillan, longtime NBA player and coach of the Atlanta Hawks.

There was also Donald Strehle Whitehead, an Idaho lieutenant governor who became briefly famous for seeing a UFO in 1947.

Hertford County’s earlier shift toward industry has made it more economically resilient than some of its neighbors to the east. It still has industry in the form of steel, aluminum and plastic factories as reported by the Ahoskie Chamber of Commerce website.

The county’s position on the border with Virginia has brought it close to the growing Suffolk area. Hertford County also has the potential to grow with Chowan University, with the placement of a university being a major indicator of small-town success in the 21st century. As author Alana Semuels wrote in The Atlantic in 2017, “college campuses and educational institutions can bolster the economies of small towns that otherwise would be struggling.” 

In many ways, Hertford County is well poised to use its land and university to help continue the mix of agricultural and small-town growth that has characterized it for the past two centuries.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Gates County is yet another fascinating county that emerged from the original Albemarle settlements.

Its rural character, plantation history and natural beauty make it similar to other northeastern counties such as Chowan, Pasquotank and Camden.

Gates also has had to adapt to the decline of agriculture and find its place on the outskirts of metropolitan Virginia like all the northeastern counties. But Gates has a number of famous residents, plantation homes and a state park that makes it a worthy subject.

The area that is now Gates County was originally the home of the Chowanoke Native Americans. The Chowanoke were a sizable group whom Europeans eventually forced onto a reservation, which was dissolved by 1821. After the journey of John Pory down the Chowan River in 1622, Europeans began to settle in the area. Traders bought Native American land and were followed by farmers who grew corn and tobacco. During much of the 17th century, the current county made up the northwestern frontier of North Carolina.

Gates County was formed in 1779 and was named after Revolutionary War general Horatio Gates. According to David Leroy Corbitt, author of “The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943,” the county was formed from the northeastern section of Hertford County and the northern sections of Chowan and Perquimans counties.

The county’s soil and proximity to the markets of Virginia made it a center for tobacco cultivation in the antebellum period. Planters built sizable homes such as Buckland in 1795 and Elmwood Plantation in 1822.

They also constructed mills that ground corn and powered saws to process the county’s sizable lumber stands. One of these mills created the landscape that later became Merchants Millpond State Park, one of only two state parks in North Carolina in the Albemarle region.

The wealth of Gates County planters came at the expense of the county’s sizable enslaved population. According to the 1860 Hergesheimer map, 48.3% of Gates County’s population was enslaved in that year, the 18th highest total in the state. The Hergesheimer map shows the distribution of the slave population of the southern United States.

Along with a large number of slaves, Gates County also had a robust free African American population, partly because of the county’s border location. In his history of free African Americans in North Carolina, John Hope Franklin noted that “In the counties bordering on Virginia and South Carolina were to be found a large number of free Negroes whose very presence in these areas bespoke the more liberal treatment of free Negroes in North Carolina than in the neighboring states.”

The 1860 census counted 361 free African Americans in Gates County. They were significant members of the community and held a wide variety of professions such as carpenters, blacksmiths and coopers. But free African Americans also held a precarious place in North Carolina society. Their activities were restricted, they had few legal rights, and were constantly viewed with distrust by white society.

Gates County escaped the Civil War with little war-related damage. The county’s rural location was not strategic to the war aims of either the Union or the Confederacy, and so it avoided major battles or raids. But following the war, the county had to rebuild its economy.

Peanut cultivation flourished in the county along with truck farming of fruits and vegetables and livestock. Gatesville, originally incorporated in 1830, served as the only sizable community in the county. The hallmark of the town was and is the Gates County Courthouse, built in 1836 and enlarged in 1904, which became known for its Greek Revival details and cast-iron railing as noted by Catherine W. Cockshutt in her nomination of the building for the National Register of Historic Places.

Gates County also played a role in Reconstruction. African Americans and white Republicans reshaped county government and filled numerous political offices. One of the county’s residents, John Wallace, left the county for Florida and served as a Republican state senator and representative. He later became known to historians for a controversial book which, according to historian James C. Clark, in “was critical of his fellow blacks and Radical Republicans, and frequently complimentary of white conservation (conservative) Democrats.” The true authorship of the book remains in question.

African Americans in North Carolina were disenfranchised following the white supremacy campaigns of 1898 and 1900. They still played a role in the economy and society of Gates County, however. A prominent example of this engagement was the establishment of Rosenwald Schools, centers of African American education across the South funded by Sears President Julius Rosenwald. Gates County was home to seven Rosenwald Schools according to a 1930 report from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Two are still standing, most notably the Reid’s Grove School, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the 20th century, Gates County was home to a number of prominent North Carolinians. Thad Eure (1899-1993), born in the southern part of the county, was the North Carolina Secretary of State for 53 years and holds the title of longest-tenured elected office holder in American history.

Herman Riddick was an influential African American football coach at what later became North Carolina Central University, coaching for twenty seasons according to Central’s Athletics Hall of Fame website.

Calvin Earl, famed African American singer and educator on spirituals, is also from Gatesville.

Today, Gates County is a rural curiosity on the border with Virginia. It is the second-smallest county by population in the Albemarle region behind Camden County, and its only town, Gatesville, has fewer than 400 people. The county is removed from whatever traffic may be associated with interstate construction on U.S. 17 or the mid-Currituck bridge. But Gates County has room for growth, nonetheless.

Merchants Millpond attracts a young visitor base with its trails and paddling opportunities. As noted in Indian Country Today, the Chowanoke Native Americans have started purchasing land in the county and hope to open a cultural center. There is also the possibility of development from Hampton Roads, with Suffolk, population 90,000, only about 10 miles away from the county’s northern border.

Like the counties to its east, Gates County will have to tackle the question of whether it will become a satellite of southeast Virginia or will continue the rural character that has defined it for centuries.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

The Albemarle region is known for its historical legacy, beautiful natural areas and quaint architecture. It is also mostly a quiet, rural area with small towns and limited economic activity.

The quietest, most rural county in the region by far is Camden County. It is known not for its buildings or major historic events but for its canal and its swamp.

While it does not have the tourist sites of Edenton or the industry of Elizabeth City, Camden County is still a fascinating part of North Carolina’s oldest region.

Camden County was part of the Albemarle, the first area permanently settled by the English in North Carolina. Its earliest settlers came south from Virginia and purchased land from the Yeopim Native Americans.

The county was originally the eastern part of Pasquotank County. The state legislature formed Camden County in 1777 because of the “width of Pasquotank River, and the Difficulty of passing the same, especially in boisterous weather,” which prevented some residents from reaching the courthouse easily.

As noted by David Leroy Corbitt, Camden County’s general boundaries were the Pasquotank River to the west, the North River to the east, and the Virginia border.

One sizable house still remains from this early period, Milford, near the county seat of Camden. Milford was constructed in 1746 by John Ivey, a local planter mentioned in William Byrd’s “History of the Dividing Line.” It is one of the largest pre-1750 houses in the state, made of brick with two stories. Milford is known for its rare, gable design pattern, which, according to H.G. Jones, was only found in one other colonial house in the South.

Like the Old Brick House in Elizabeth City and the Cupola House in Edenton, Milford was definitely a mansion during its day. The vast majority of colonists in Camden County lived in much simpler dwellings, at first log cabins and then one-story plank houses.

Camden County’s economy has always been defined by the Great Dismal Swamp, which makes up its upper half. The swamp is one of the largest on the eastern seaboard, comprising more than 100,000 acres in North Carolina and Virginia.

Byrd’s expedition was one of the first European groups to encounter and cross the swamp. Byrd wrote that the swamp did not contain most of the fanciful creatures that locals told stories about, but that it “had one Beauty, however, that delighted the Eye, tho’ at the Expense of all the other Senses: the Moisture of the Soil preserves a continual Verdure, and makes every Plant an Evergreen, but at the same time the foul Damps ascend without ceasing, corrupt the Air, and render it unfit for Respiration.”

As its edges were settled in the 18th and 19th centuries, the swamp became a source of shingle production. It was also a home for runaway enslaved people from North Carolina and Virginia.

They formed self-sufficient maroon communities, sometimes interacting with whites near the canals and edges of the swamp and often staying entirely away from white society.

Recent scholarship has unearthed several of their communities and has started to understand the extent of African American settlement in the region, according to a 2016 Smithsonian Magazine profile.

The early 19th century was a prosperous period for Camden County. It was the site of the Port of Camden up to the 1820s. By 1860, the county’s enslaved population was 42% of its total population, the 27th highest total in the state according to the Hergesheimer map. Many of these slaves worked in shingle production or on small farms growing foodstuffs such as corn and wheat, an 1860 census document states.

The Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which opened in 1805 and was widened in 1829 with the use of slave labor, passed through the county. The canal connected the Albemarle region with Norfolk and the Chesapeake Bay.

One of the few sizable communities in Camden County grew up along the canal.

South Mills was formed in the 1830s and named after mills that used water from a canal spillway for power. It was the site of a Civil War battle in 1862, where Confederates prevented a Union attempt to destroy the Great Dismal Swamp Canal’s locks, a 2012 Virginian-Pilot article explains.

The only other community with any size in Camden County is the county seat of Camden. Established as Jonesborough in 1792 according to the North Carolina Gazetteer, it is located on the Pasquotank River.

Two early public buildings remain in Camden from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Camden County Courthouse is an 1847 Greek Revival structure with four columns and a sizable porch. There is also the Camden County Jail, a brick building completed in 1910 that now houses offices and a museum.

Camden County remained one of the smallest and most lightly populated counties in North Carolina throughout the 19th and 20th century. In 1900, its population was only 5,474, a paltry total that made it less populated than 16 of the state’s towns. But a number of remarkable individuals still hailed from the swampy northeast county, many of whom were African American.

Julian Williams escaped from slavery to fight in the Union Army during the Civil War, while Moses Grandy purchased his freedom in the 1820s, wrote a narrative of his life, and later became an influential abolitionist.

Later on, Mary Elliott Hill, 1907-1969, born in South Mills, became a notable chemist who published dozens of papers and formulated processes important in plastic production.

Today, Camden County remains one of the most rural, sparsely populated counties in the state. It has the fifth smallest population in the state and still no incorporated towns.

But these circumstances may change in the next decade or so. Elizabeth City continues to grow on Camden County’s western border. There is a chance that its growth will jump the Pasquotank River and turn Camden into a bedroom community.

In addition, a new highway-widening project of US 17 and the proposed mid-Currituck bridge could bring thousands of travelers every year through Camden County on their way to the Outer Banks.

Time will tell if Camden County will become a waypoint for tourists or if it will retain the rural character that has defined it for the past three centuries.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

In an area defined by small towns and miles of contiguous farmland, Pasquotank County is by far the most developed county in the Albemarle Region.

Its county seat, Elizabeth City, is home to restaurants, shopping and the kinds of big-box stores that are ubiquitous in cities like Greenville or Rocky Mount. But Elizabeth City was not always the center of the region or even the center of Pasquotank County. It took many decades, civil unrest and a citywide rebuilding to make Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County the regional anchor that they are today. 

Pasquotank County was an original county of the Albemarle region. According to historian David Leroy Corbitt, the county began as Pasquotank Precinct of Albemarle County in 1668. Its original boundaries were the Virginia border to the north, Albemarle Sound to the south, the North River to the east, and Little River to the west. The northeast section of Pasquotank County became Camden County in 1777. Early settlers, including Nathaniel Batts and George Durant, purchased land from Native Americans and started moving in within a decade of the precinct’s formation. Pasquotank became its own county in 1739. The first town was not Elizabeth City but Nixonton, which was established in 1758 on the Little River.

Pasquotank County was in many ways the political center of the Colony. The first assembly in the Colony was known as the Grand Assembly and met in Pasquotank County in 1665. This and other early meetings set up the Colonial government, which centered around the governor and his council along with an assembly of elected representatives.

The first governor of North Carolina, William Drummond, served the Colony from Pasquotank. According to author and Pasquotank native Bland Simpson, Drummond was a decent governor whose power was undermined by Virginia’s William Berkeley. After his term in office, Drummond moved to Virginia, became a follower of Nathaniel Bacon against Berkeley, and was executed when Bacon’s Rebellion failed in 1677.

Shortly after Drummond left office, the people of Pasquotank rose up to evict another questionable governor. Culpeper’s Rebellion occurred when Gov. Thomas Miller arrested popular local citizen George Durant for opposing a new law meant to enforce customs duties. In his history of the rebellion, Hugh F. Rankin noted that its spark was a set of remonstrances written by John Culpeper in which he accused Miller of numerous crimes in the name of the “Pasquatanckians.” A local mob broke Durant out of jail and filled the jail instead with the governor and several of his deputies. North Carolina went several years without an accepted governor before the Lords Proprietor, then owners of the Colony, sent one to the Colonists’ liking.

During the time of Culpeper’s Rebellion, Colonial life was simple. Most settlers were farmers or traders. They grew corn, wheat and tobacco. Some were Quakers converted during the earlier visit by George Fox and William Edmundson, but most were Anglicans who did not regularly attend church services. The wealthiest citizens mingled often with the poorest and lived in modest brick houses. As Hugh F. Rankin wrote of the 17th century Albemarle region, “The business of hacking a home out of the wilderness was far too difficult to permit the delicacies of elegant living.” The most exciting regular occurrence was court, where citizens met to drink, socialize, and air their grievances large and small.

No buildings survive in Pasquotank County from this early period of the Colony. But one house, the Old Brick House in Elizabeth City, remains from the 1750s. It was built by Robert Murden, a local militia and assembly member. The house, rare for its twin brick chimneys and considerable size, has an elegantly designed interior and an elaborate carved mantel. H.G. Jones noted that because of their lavish interiors, the Old Brick House and Edenton’s Cupola House “were likely considered mansions in comparison to standard residences of the region.”

The late Colonial period was one of stagnation for much of Pasquotank County. As the 1700s progressed, the population center of the Colony shifted, first to Edenton and then to the Neuse and Cape Fear River regions. But Pasquotank gained renewed relevance in the 1790s with the founding of Elizabeth City at the narrows of the Pasquotank River. Likely named after either a local tavern keeper or a county in Virginia, Elizabeth City soon became a prosperous port. It was located a few miles from the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which was completed in 1805 and greatly facilitated water transportation between North Carolina and Virginia.

Elizabeth City finally surpassed Edenton by 1880 to become the largest town in the Albemarle region. Elizabeth City also had one of the largest free African American populations in the state. According to John Hope Franklin, Pasquotank County had more than 900 free African Americans in 1830, many of whom came across the Virginia border and lived in Elizabeth City.

The Civil War devastated Elizabeth City. Parts of the city were burned in 1862 and rebuilt over the next few decades. This rebuilding included the present-day Neoclassical courthouse, constructed on East Main Street in 1881 and 1882. The end of slavery enabled Pasquotank County to find new sources of economic prosperity. Agriculture continued to be prominent, but there was a renewed focus on industry. By the 1880s, there was a wide variety of businesses such as a cotton mill, grist mills, and a soda bottling establishment. Some of these buildings, in addition to an iron works dating from the 1890s, survive.

Elizabeth City also embraced higher education. Elizabeth City State University was founded in 1891 as the State Colored Normal School at Elizabeth City. It solely trained African American teachers at first but later expanded its scope. The university is now the only school in North Carolina that offers a four-year degree in aviation science. Alumni include athletes such as American Basketball Association star Mike Gale and NFL standout Everett McIver, a Dallas Cowboy who was once famously stabbed with a pair of scissors by Hall of Famer Michael Irvin. A more recent graduate, Omari Salisbury, became nationally known in 2020 for his role as videographer for social justice movements, for which he received a profile in the Seattle Times.

The College of the Albemarle, which opened in 1960 and is now located 3 miles north of Elizabeth City State University, is the other major institution of higher education in Pasquotank County. It currently serves as the primary community college for the Albemarle region and boasts one of the state’s largest health care programs, according to EdNC.

Today, Elizabeth City remains the economic center of Pasquotank County. The other communities in the county are comparatively small. Weeksville is unincorporated and long ago lost its claim to fame: a lighter-than-air airship hangar once operated by the Navy and private companies. Nixonton also remains as an unincorporated community, having lost its town status long ago according to the North Carolina Gazetteer. Most of the county still subsists on agriculture. Large fields of corn and soybeans stretch along U.S. 17. Even though Pasquotank is the 89th largest county in the state by area, it is seventh in the state in corn production according to official statistics.

But even Elizabeth City may not be the main determinant of Pasquotank County’s trajectory over the next few decades. The Hampton Roads region of Virginia continues to encroach into North Carolina. Elizabeth City is only 47 miles from Norfolk and is already part of the same metropolitan area as defined by the Census. It remains to be seen whether Elizabeth City will continue its centuries-long tradition of centrality to the Albemarle region or if it will be another outpost for the growing urban sprawl of southeast Virginia.

Part of a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

The Albemarle region is home to Colonial North Carolina’s original four counties. Of these four, two contain prominent historic towns, Pasquotank and Chowan, and one, Currituck, is now an Outer Banks destination. In some ways, Perquimans may be the odd county out.

It was not the home of a center for higher learning like Elizabeth City or Blackbeard’s friend in government. But its small size did not prevent Perquimans County from having an exceptional impact on the history of North Carolina’s religion, sports or culture.

Perquimans County was one of the original precincts of Albemarle County, the first county established by the Lords Proprietor of North Carolina in 1663. In his history of North Carolina counties, David Leroy Corbitt traced the precinct’s origins as early as 1668 and noted the county’s boundaries: the Little River to the east, Yeopim River to the west, and the Virginia border. The northern section was later taken to form Camden and Gates counties.

The Perquimans River bisects the county.

Perquimans County was settled in the 1660s by men and women from Virginia migrating south, including early Colonial leader George Durant. They were at first sold land by the Yeopim Native Americans who lived in the area. After this earliest English settlement, the county received one of its first notable visitors in 1672, one who would influence the development of the county for centuries.

George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, introduced the major tenets of the religion in England in the 1640s. He then felt called to visit adherents to his religion living in the Americas. From Virginia, he arrived in North Carolina in 1672 and wrote in his journal that the journey involved no established roads and was “full of cruel bogs and swamps; so that we were commonly wet to the knees, and lay abroad at nights in the woods by a fire.”

During this visit, supported by his follower William Edmundson, Fox converted a number of Perquimans County residents.

Quakerism’s tenets greatly affected the development of Perquimans County. Quakers believed in purchasing land from Native Americans, as opposed to taking it by force, meaning that they did not immediately acquire the most fertile lands. Such lands were the best for tobacco production, so the Quakers focused on wheat and corn in the early years of the county. The Quakers, guided by their views on the equality of all people, also started to fight against slavery in the late 1700s. Many Perquimans County residents advocated against slavery and freed their slaves in a process known as manumission. According to historian Stephen B. Weeks, one of the most notable Quaker opponents of slavery in the county was Barnaby Nixon, who became known for both his views on slavery and his vegetarianism.

The Quakers were eventually displaced by pro-slavery settlers who hungered for the fertile land of the Albemarle Region. By 1860, Edwin Hergesheimer’s map showed that 52.1% of Perquimans County residents were enslaved, the second highest total in the Albemarle region.

Fifty years after the first Colonial settlement, descendants of the first settlers built one of the most famous Colonial houses in the state. The Newbold-White House is usually accepted as North Carolina’s oldest brick house. It was built around 1730 on land at one time associated with the famous Blount family, although historian Tom Parramore believed it may have been built even earlier.

The house changed hands multiple times until it was purchased by the Perquimans County Restoration Association in 1973, when the county began to return it to its former appearance. The Newbold-White House can be visited and toured today. It is an exceptional, publicly accessible relic from the earliest period of the Colony.

The county’s small population meant it developed differently from its neighbor to the east, Chowan County. While Edenton was settled quickly and became a prosperous town, Perquimans County did not have an incorporated town for decades. The county court met at private homes for several decades. Perquimans County’s first recognized town, Hertford, was settled in 1701, according to the “North Carolina Gazetteer,” but not incorporated until 1758.

Hertford became known for its stately homes and for its swing-span “S bridge.” Until its disassembly earlier this year, it was one of the few remaining S-shaped bridges in the country. The Perquimans County Courthouse, built in 1824, is one of the oldest extant structures in the county and is a fine example of Federal-style architecture.

Perquimans County remained small throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Its population decreased from 9,466 to 9,178 between 1880 and 1960. But there were still a number of notable people who called the tiny county home. Arguably the most famous was Jim “Catfish” Hunter, a Major League Baseball pitcher with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees. Hunter won more than 200 games in his illness-shortened career, pitched a perfect game, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.

Catfish became known for his laid-back attitude and country witticisms. Once, in reference to his teammate Reggie Jackson, he famously said, “The difference between God and Reggie Jackson is that God doesn’t think he’s Reggie Jackson.”

A close competitor in fame was Wolfman Jack, the famous midcentury radio DJ and a resident of Perquimans County later in his life. Born Robert Weston Smith in Brooklyn in 1938, the Wolfman was known for his distinctive gravelly voice. He was a mainstay of early rock-and-roll radio from his perch at several American-Mexican border stations in the 1960s. His 1995 New York Times obituary noted that his famous voice had given him “something of a cult following as one of America’s best-known radio personalities.”

Wolfman Jack’s fame led to several commemorative songs and a spot in George Lucas’s 1973 film “American Graffiti.” Although he lived in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, when he died in 1995, Wolfman Jack was buried in Belvidere, where he had moved nine years earlier to live with his wife’s family.

The late 20th and early 21st centuries have brought a number of opportunities to Perquimans County. Albemarle Plantation is a planned community on the Albemarle Sound that opened in 1990. As noted in the Perquimans Weekly, Albemarle Plantation is home to 475 families and provides a golf course as well as a marina for residents.

There is also a military facility, the Harvey Point Defense Testing Activity, located on Harvey’s Point between the Albemarle Sound and the Perquimans River. The county continues to be mostly rural, although it is an attractive bedroom community for commuters from Elizabeth City.

While most of the Quakers left in the 19th century because of their opposition to slavery, there are still two Quaker meetings left in the county. The Quaker heritage remains and serves as one of the many factors that make Perquimans County a unique part of North Carolina’s original Albemarle region.

This is the first in a history series examining each of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties.

Every elementary school student in North Carolina is taught the story of the Lost Colony. That 16th century settlement on Roanoke Island was indeed the first sustained English settlement in North America, but it has earned its moniker for a reason.

The colony was lost within five years of its settlement. Today’s state of North Carolina instead emerged from a much less famous area. The Albemarle Settlements, of which Chowan County comprised the western section, were the true beginning of this state. Chowan County reflects this long historical heritage and is today as closely connected to the past as any county in the state.

One could argue that John Pory, not John White, is the true founder of the North Carolina Colony. Pory, a professor, explorer and politician living in Virginia, traveled down the Chowan River in 1622 and, according to a Virginia chronicle from 1622, wrote of “a very fruitfull and pleasant Countrey, full of rivers, wherein are two harvests in one yeere.”

After his report, some Virginians moved south in search of fresh tobacco lands. Pory’s journey predated the 1629 grant from King Charles I that gave Carolina or “Carolana” as it was called at first) its name. Many Virginians settled along the river that Pory traveled. In 1664, enough settlers had moved into the area that Albemarle County was formed to provide some semblance of government. The western edge of that county, Shaftesbury Precinct, became Chowan Precinct in 1685 and Chowan County in 1739.

The center of Chowan County was Edenton, one of the earliest towns in North Carolina. It was named after Charles Eden, a governor more famous today for his friendship with pirates than his governance. Bill Hand noted in the New Bern Sun Journal that “some historians suggest that Eden was getting a percentage from the pirate; at any rate, after Blackbeard’s death a lot of his loot turned up in a barn owned by colony secretary Tobias Knight.”

One of Eden’s rivals, Edward Moseley, was arrested for publicly insinuating the governor was receiving Blackbeard’s stolen treasures. When Blackbeard was finally killed in North Carolina waters, it was not by Eden’s militia but by troops from Virginia.

In its early years, Edenton barely earned the designation of town. William Byrd II, a leading Virginia planter and the founder of Richmond, stayed near Edenton when he helped survey the Virginia-North Carolina Colonial boundary in 1728. Byrd wrote in his “History of the Dividing Line” that the town had between 40 and 50 houses and that he knew of no other place of European settlement where “there is neither church, chapel, mosque, synagogue, or any other place of public worship of any sect or religion whatsoever.” To Byrd, the people of Edenton had no ambition and regarded having a brick chimney on one’s home as a sign of extravagance.

This state of affairs did not last. Over time, Edenton became a center for some of the colony’s most respected citizens. These included early Supreme Court Justice James Iredell and governors James Iredell Jr. and Samuel Johnson. North Carolina’s governor resided in Edenton while it was the Colonial capital from 1722 to 1743. The town contained some of the most elegant buildings in the colony. Several of them, such as the Chowan County Courthouse built in 1767, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church built 1736-1766, are still standing and can be visited today. Edenton’s 300-year-old courthouse green still survives in the middle of town.

A pivotal moment in women’s and Colonial history happened in Edenton in 1774. Spurred on by the hated tax on tea and similar events across the Colonies, the so-called Edenton Tea Party was held in that year. A group of women, led by Penelope Barker, signed a document pledging to boycott the purchase of English tea and cloth until England stopped its practice of taxation without representation.

According to Sandra Lancaster of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the letter was “one of the earliest organized women’s political actions in United States history.” It also prompted ridicule in London. Phillip Dawe drew and had printed a cartoon portraying the women as masculine, lecherous and decidedly unladylike. A statue of a teapot commemorating the event can be found atop a cannon near the county courthouse.

Throughout the Revolutionary and early Republic periods, Chowan County’s considerable wealth was built on shipping and local plantations, with much of its territory outside of the town limits comprising sprawling tobacco plantations. The town of Edenton also centered around slavery.

The 1860 slavery distribution map, created by Edwin Hergesheimer, showed that the county had the state’s seventh-highest proportion of slaves to free persons. One of the most famous of these enslaved persons was Harriet Jacobs. After years of torment from her owner, Jacobs escaped and spent several more years in Edenton hiding in an attic before making her way north. Harriet Jacobs’s 1861book, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” became one of the most famous antebellum slave narratives, and she spent the remainder of her life in the North fighting for abolition and later for social reform. Free African Americans also called the town home. They could secure jobs as ship pilots or working on the docks. Harriet Jacobs noted that some of these free men and women helped her, her brother John Jacobs, and others escape to freedom by ship.

Chowan County’s fortunes declined in the 19th century. As David Leroy Corbitt noted in his authoritative history of North Carolina counties, Chowan lost its prosperous top half with the formation of Gates County in 1779. Edenton’s harbor was greatly affected by the closing of Roanoke Inlet after a 1795 hurricane.

The town was then occupied by federal troops early in the Civil War. Following the end of slavery, Edenton survived by turning to industry, most notably at the cotton mill that still stands at the end of King Street and the peanut mill on Church Street.

Following the Civil War, with the decline of plantation agriculture, the entire Albemarle region suffered economic hardship that continued throughout much of the 20th century. Edenton only reversed this decline by embracing its history. One of the earliest historic preservation efforts in North Carolina occurred in 1918, 40 years before the rebuilding of Tryon Palace. Women in Edenton formed an association to rehabilitate the Cupola House built 1756-58, one of North Carolina’s oldest homes.

For the next century, affiliated groups such as the Edenton State Historic Site and the Edenton Woman’s Club restored dozens of structures and helped found numerous inns and bed-and-breakfast inns. State funding and tourism revenues have resulted in a vibrant downtown with museums, house tours and a trolley tour.

This history caught the imagination of one of North Carolina’s most notable novelists. Inglis Fletcher, who owned a historic plantation in Chowan County, wrote a dozen books set in historical North Carolina and Edenton. These included “Men of Albemarle” in 1942, and “Roanoke Hundred” in1948. There was also “Lusty Wind of Carolina” in1944, the tale of a bondsman and the daughter of a Huguenot weaver who fall in love, help establish the Colony, and fight pirates. The books are all fictional but filled with historical facts as well as cameos from historical figures. 

Today, Chowan County retains the North-South dynamic that has defined it since the early 18th century. Its northern areas are rural and have changed little in the past hundred years. The exception is the growing seaside community of Arrowhead Beach. Other northern communities, such as Rockyhock and the amusingly named Sign Pine, remain little more than crossroads.

The southern section of the county, comprising Edenton, has become a vibrant, bustling community dedicated to tourism and history. Edenton now has a bookstore and approximately two dozen restaurants. Its former mill buildings have new tenants, including a fitness center and a museum. Chowan County has found a way forward by embracing both its natural wealth and the appeal of the past. It has become one of the Inner Banks’ most notable success stories.