Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula

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Peninsula in North Carolina, United States

Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula
Peninsula
Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula is the largest peninsula on the North Carolina seacoast (right) and includes 5 counties.

Country	United States
State	North Carolina
Region	Outer Banks
Area
• Total	1,200 sq mi (3,200 km)

Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula is a large peninsula (about 3,200 square miles) on the North Carolina coast, lying between the Albemarle Sound to the north and the Pamlico Sound to the south. The 5 counties of Dare, Hyde, Beaufort, Tyrrell, and Washington all lie wholly or partly on the peninsula.

Much of the peninsula is covered with marshland. It is a low-lying area; the majority of the peninsular is less than 4 metres (13 ft) above sea level. The pocosin marshlands of the Albemarle-Pamlico peninsula drain into the Alligator River, an important link in the intracoastal waterway.

Forty four percent of the peninsula is owned by timber companies, and another twenty one percent of the peninsula is owned by agricultural corporations. This led to a great deal of deforestation on the peninsula in the 1980s, to the extent that only one third of the peninsula's pocosin marshlands continue to exist in their unaltered form. Soybeans, corn, pines, cattle, and hogs were all raised on the peninsula. Many of the larger farms have gone bankrupt, but some pine farms continue to exist on the peninsula.

Ecology

The peninsula is sounded by the Albemarle, Croatan, and Pamlico Sounds. It is the second largest estuary complex in the United States.

The peninsula is made up of wildlife preserves, agricultural lands, and both federal- and state-owned preserves. It previously contained over 500,000 acres of Atlantic white cedar forest; less than 5% of this remains due to farming and drainage of the area that began with European colonization in the 1700s.

Climate change

Sea levels in the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula are rising at twice the rate of the national average. As of 2023, salinity levels have more than doubled in some areas since the 1980s.

In 2009, the North Carolina chapter of the Nature Conservancy began a project to address the rising salinity levels in wetlands on the Albemarle-Pamlico peninsula. This included plugging agricultural canals and updating antiquated water control infrastructure.

Towns and cities

References

Smith, Robin (2022-01-25). "Finding the Tipping Point for Coastal Wetlands". Duke University | Research Blog. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
^ Anderson, Steven M.; Ury, Emily A.; Taillie, Paul J.; Ungberg, Eric A.; Moorman, Christopher E.; Poulter, Benjamin; Ardón, Marcelo; Bernhardt, Emily S.; Wright, Justin P. (2022). "Salinity thresholds for understory plants in coastal wetlands". Plant Ecology. 223 (3): 323–337. doi:10.1007/s11258-021-01209-2. ISSN 1385-0237.
"Atlantic White Cedar Restoration on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula". North Carolina Coastal Federation. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
^ Jones, Sam (2023-04-17). "Climate Change Brings the Tide to Farmers' Doorsteps". CALS Magazine. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
"Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP)". southeastaquatics.net. Retrieved 2025-01-02.

External links

Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership
Where is the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula - Dare County (map) lies out on the far tip of the peninsula.

35°43′34″N 76°01′52″W / 35.726°N 76.031°W / 35.726; -76.031

v t e Outer Banks of North Carolina and Virginia
Landforms	Bodie Island Knotts Island Monkey Island Mary Island Colington Island Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula Roanoke Island Pea Island Hatteras Island No Ache Island Cape Hatteras Shelly Island Ocracoke Island Beacon Island Portsmouth Island Core Banks Cape Lookout
Places	City of Virginia Beach Sandbridge Currituck County Knotts Island Carova Beach Corolla Dare County Duck Southern Shores Kitty Hawk Kill Devil Hills Colington Nags Head Whalebone Junction Manteo Wanchese Rodanthe Waves Salvo Avon Buxton Frisco Hatteras Hyde County Ocracoke Carteret County Portsmouth Cape Lookout Village
Waterways	Atlantic Ocean Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Bays Onslow Bay Raleigh Bay Back Bay Knotts Island Bay Sounds Currituck Sound Albemarle Sound Croatan Sound Roanoke Sound Pamlico Sound Core Sound Back Sound Inlets Oregon Inlet New Inlet Isabel Inlet Hatteras Inlet Ocracoke Inlet Drum Inlet Barden Inlet
Lighthouses	Currituck Beach Light Bodie Island Light Cape Hatteras Light Ocracoke Light Cape Lookout Light
Protected areas and wildlife	National seashores Cape Hatteras National Seashore Cape Lookout National Seashore Wildlife refuges Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge Currituck National Wildlife Refuge Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge State parks False Cape State Park Jockey's Ridge State Park State coastal reserves Kitty Hawk Woods Buxton Woods Game lands Currituck Banks Game Land Roanoke Island Marshes Game Land Buxton Woods Game Land Preserves Nags Head Woods Preserve Roanoke Island Marshes Preserve Museums, zoos, and institutes North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum University of North Carolina - Coastal Studies Institute Other Mountains-to-Sea Trail Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary Fort Raleigh National Historic Site Wright Brothers National Memorial Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve Run Hill State Natural Area Wildlife Banker horse Red wolf
Transportation	Routes Historic Albemarle Tour North Carolina Ferry System Bridges Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge Marc Basnight Bridge Herbert C. Bonner Bridge Wright Memorial Bridge William B. Umstead Bridge Washington Baum Bridge Melvin R. Daniels Bridge Rodanthe Bridge Mid-Currituck Bridge Captain Richard Etheridge Bridge Airports Dare County Regional Airport First Flight Airport Billy Mitchell Airport Ocracoke Island Airport
History	Events and places Pea Island Life-Saving Station Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Roanoke Colony Graveyard of the Atlantic Torpedo Alley Battle of the Atlantic Hatteras Weather Bureau Station Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island People Roanoke people Croatan Wanchese Manteo John White Richard Grenville Blackbeard Raleigh Virginia Dare Marc Basnight
Weather	1936 Outer Banks hurricane 1945 Outer Banks hurricane Hurricane Fran Hurricane Irene Hurricane Isabel Hurricane Dorian Hazard mitigation

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