Edenton

History

In 1658, adventurers from the Jamestown area drifted through the wilderness from Virginia and found a location on the northern shore of a small natural harbor at , now called Edenton Bay. Edenton Colony was the first permanent European settlement in what is now the state of North Carolina. Edenton was established in 1712 as "the Towne on Queen Anne's Creek". It was later known as "Ye Towne on Mattercommack Creek" and still later as "the Port of Roanoke". It was renamed "Edenton" and incorporated in 1722 in honor of Governor Charles Eden, who had died that year. Edenton served as the second capital of the Province of North Carolina, from 1722 to 1743, with the governor establishing his residence there and the population increasing during that period. William Byrd II, who visited the town in March 1729, provides a description of Edenton in his The History of the Dividing Line: This town is Situated on the north side of Albermarle Sound which is there about 5 miles over. A Dirty Slash runs all along the Back of it, which in the Summer is a foul annoyance, and furnishes abundance of that Carolina plague, musquetas. There may be 40 or 50 Houses, most of them Small, built without Expense. A Citizen here is counted Extravagant, if he has Ambition enough to aspire to a Brick-chimney. Justice herself is but indifferently Lodged, the Court-House having much the Air of a Common Tobacco-House. I believe this is the only metropolis in the Christian or Mohametan world where there is neither Church, Chapel, Mosque, Synagogue, nor any other Place of Publick Worship of any Sect or Religion whatsoever. What little Devotion there may be is much more private than their vices. A landmark in women's history occurred in Edenton in 1774. Fifty-one women in Edenton, led by Penelope…

Geography

Edenton is located in southern Chowan County sits at the north end of Edenton Bay, just north of the confluence of the Chowan and Roanoke rivers, which forms Albemarle Sound. U.S. Route 17, a four-lane expressway, runs along the northern border of the town, with access from five exits. US 17 leads northeast to Elizabeth City and southwest to Williamston. Nags Head on the Outer Banks is to the east by road, and Raleigh, the state capital, is to the west. According to the United States Census Bureau, Edenton has a total area of , of which is land and , or 3.55%, is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,737
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,719
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,469
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,367
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,360
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,336
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,329
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,280

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2014-02-11
  7 km NW of Hobucken, North Carolina