Everything about Albemarle Sound totally explained
Albemarle Sound is a large
estuary on the coast of
North Carolina in the
United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers, including the
Chowan and
Roanoke. It is separated from the
Atlantic Ocean by the
Outer Banks, a long barrier peninsula upon which the town of
Kitty Hawk is located, at the eastern edge of the sound.
Roanoke Island is situated at the southeastern corner of the sound, where it connects to
Pamlico Sound. Much of the water in the Albemarle Sound is brackish or fresh, as opposed to the saltwater of the ocean, as a result of river water pouring into the sound.
Some small portions of the Albemarle have been given their own "sound" names to distinguish these bodies of water from other parts of the large estuary. The
Croatan Sound, for instance, lies between mainland
Dare County and Roanoke Island. The eastern shore of the island to the Outer Banks is commonly referred to as the
Roanoke Sound. The long stretch of water from near the
Virginia state line south to around the
Currituck County southern boundary is known as the
Currituck Sound.
The
sound forms part of the
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Its coast saw the first permanent English settlements in what became North Carolina, the
Albemarle Settlements. Many inland
tidewater communities along the Albemarle today are part of the
Inner Banks region of the state.
History
Before Europeans came to the Albemarle Sound, the
Algonquian Indians lived in the region. They traveled the sound in
dugout canoes, and trapped fish.
In
1586 the first European explorers sailed up the fifty-five mile length of the Albemarle Sound. Half a century later, the first European settlers came south from
Virginia, establishing agricultural and trading colonies along the shores of the Sound. The Albemarle Sound soon became a very important thoroughfare, with small trading ships called
Coasters carrying cargo to and from other colonies, and larger merchant ships bringing spices, silks, and sugars from the
West Indies in exchange for products such as
tobacco (a major export of the southern colonies),
herring, and lumber.
Ferries were a common method of transportation through the swamps surrounding the Albemarle sound throughout the history of the region, with one ferry linking the towns of
Edenton and
Mackeys, North Carolina continuing service from
1734 to
1938, when a bridge was built across the Sound. Another longer bridge of more than 3 miles in length was built in
1990.
Fishing was a major industry in the Albemarle Sound. In late Spring, plantation farmers would fish for
shad,
striped bass, and
herring. Nets used by these fishermen were sometimes enormous, with some more than a mile long, and were frequently manned 24 hours a day. Herring was cut and salted for export to Europe, while shad was packed in ice and shipped up the
Chowan River to be sold in northern colonies. Regional striped bass tournaments attracted sport fishermen to the area, and it was considered by many to be the greatest striped bass fishery in the world.
Overfishing in recent years has depleted the fisheries of the Albemarle Sound by seventy percent.
Further Information
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