Albemarle Settlements are the first permanent English settlements on the territory of the modern state of North Carolina, founded in the Albemarl Sound and Roanoke areas in the middle of the 17th century. Settlers were mainly from Virginia, migrating south.
History
In 1653, the Virginia Assembly granted Roger Green a piece of land on the Roanoke River south of Chowan County . In 1662, George Durant acquired land from the Indians in this region, and there is evidence that others did the same. In 1665, the land passed into the possession of the authorities.
During the Bacon Uprising in 1676, the Albemarl settlements offered help and refuge to the rebels. The rebel strongholds were mostly south of the James River, an area associated with settlements by roads and rivers. The road connected “southern Virginia,” with Edenton, North Carolina, around the edge of the swamp Gret Dismole Swamp. The Blackwater River from south Virginia flowed south to the Chowan River, providing another link.
The border between Virginia and North Carolina was uncertain until Wilhelm Bird II conducted a survey in 1728, which he described in his book History of the Dividing Line. Until then, many settlers did not know if their lands were in Virginia or North Carolina.