Modern day Tyrrell County was part of Bertie, Chowan Pasquotank and Currituck County. Tyrrell was annexed in to a separate entity in 1729 so that pocosin residents would have a less arduous trip to court. The colonial legislature established the Tyrrell Precinct for the proper construction of court, jail and tax functions. The county was named for Sir John Tyrrell (1685-1729) one of the Eight Lord Proprietors.

Located on the south shore of the Albemarle Sound, the west shore of the Alligator River, the east shore of the Scuppernong River (and now the north shore of the Intracoastal Waterway) the Tyrrell County landscape consists of marshlands, swamps and bodies of water. The county has always been one of the least populated counties in the state because the wet environment has hindered transportation, land clearing and home construction. In 1793 Elizabeth Town was founded as the seat of government and was renamed Columbia in 1801. Tyrrell County is still the least populated county in the state.

There is abundant evidence that Indian tribes flourished in the 1400 and 1500s and remained vibrant throughout the early seventeenth century owing to topography. Fort Landing along the Alligator River was the first settlement but creeks and swamp lands made travel and colonization arduous. The economy focused on subsistence farming and throughout the early nineteenth century fishing and farming were the basis of the economy.

Several cultural centers and prominent wildlife refuges are located in Tyrrell County. The Columbia Theatre Cultural Resources Center and the Pocosin Arts Center and Walter Jones Center assert the importance of Tyrrell’s heritage through forestry, farming, fishing and agriculture. The Pocosin School of Fine Craft is one of the premier art galleries and craft schools in the nation attracting international students. Established in 1990, the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is an 110,000 + acre conservation area and is one of the largest ecosystems for black bear in the nation. The County is also home to the Palmetto-Pear Tree Preserve, the Futch game lands, and the Buck Ridge Preserve where carnivorous pitcher plants abound.

The county is also home to the US Department of the Interior reintroduction project of red wolves in to the wild. The county hosts the North Carolina Eastern 4H Center, a thriving crabbing industry and the Scuppernong River Festival held each October. It boasts some of the richest farmland in the world in its 75,000 acres of “Black Land” soils. The major crops are corn, potatoes, wheat and soybeans. The reclamation of land heavily forested in the later 19^th and early 20^th century into thriving farmland is chronicled in the book North Carolina’s Black Land Treasure.

 

Images courtesy of Tyrrell County.