INTRODUCTION 



Washington County is in the northeastern section of North 

 Carolina situated in the coastal plain province. The county 

 has a total area of 420 square miles, including 336 square 

 miles of land and 84 square miles of water. The 269,000 acres 

 encompass a variety of habitats, ranging from open lakes and 

 sounds to freshwater marshes, wooded swamps and pocosins, to 

 upland hardwood, pine, and mixed forests. 



Washington County is primarily a rural county with only two 

 municipalities, Plymouth, the county seat, and Roper. The 1970 

 census reported a county-wide population of 14,114, one of the 

 least populated counties in the state. In addition to Albemarle 

 Sound, it has contiguous boundaries with Tyrrell, Hyde, Beaufort, 

 Martin, and Bertie Counties (Figure 1) . 



The county lies across the divides of two major river basins. 

 The northwestern part drains into the Roanoke River Basin, and the 

 southern part drains into the Pungo River Basin. The rest of the 

 county drains into Albemarle Sound. Elevation ranges from sea 

 level at the Albemarle Sound to about 50 feet near the town of 

 Hoke in the southwest corner. Geomorphologically, the county is 

 divided into two coastal plain marine terraces , separated by two 

 parallel scarps, which run northeast-southwest across the extreme 

 western side. The Suffolk Scarp, otherwise known as the Pinetown 

 Scarp, is a distinct sand ridge which marks an old ocean shoreline 

 formed during a higher Pleistocene sea level. The toe, or base, 

 of this scarp is about 25 feet and the marine terrace to the east 

 is known as the Pamlico Terrace. West of the scarp is another 

 relatively flat marine surface known as the Talbot Terrace, an 

 older feature formed by an even higher Pleistocene sea. 



Two major freshwater lakes are a dominant part of the county 

 landscape. Lake Phelps is 16,600 acres in size and is located in 

 the southeastern portion of the county south of Creswell. It is 

 the second largest natural lake in North Carolina. Pungo Lake, 

 2560 acres, is located in the southeastern portion of the county 

 about three miles southwest of Lake Phelps. 



GEOLOGY 



The generalized geology of Washington County dates from the 

 Cretaceous Period to the Recent. The county is underlain by a 

 thick section of sedimentary deposits which consist mainly of 

 sand, clay, marl, and limestone. Occurring throughout most of 



