I. Wikacome in Weapomeiok, the Home of George Durant 1 II. The First Albemarle Assembly--Hall's Creek, near Nixonton 13 III. Enfield Farm--Where the Culpeper Rebellion Began 19 IV. The Hecklefield Farm 31 V. Colonial Days in Church and School on Little River, Pasquotank County 46 VI. The Haunts of Blackbeard 54 VII. The Old Brick House--a True History of the Historic Dwelling Reputed to be the Home of the Famous Pirate 62 VIII. "Elmwood," the Old Swann Homestead In Pasquotank County 66 IX. Pasquotank in Colonial Wars 72 X. Pasquotank in Colonial Wars--"The War of Jenkins' Ear" 78 XI. A Soldier of the Revolution--The Story of a Pasquotank Boy Who Followed Washington 84 XII. General Isaac Gregory, a Revolutionary Officer of Pasquotank-Camden 93 XIII. Perquimans County--"Land of Beautiful Women," and the Colonial Town of Hertford 114 XIV. Currituck, the Haunt of the Wild Fowl 134 XV. Edenton in the Revolution 153 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Old Float Bridge Across the Perquimans River _Frontispiece_ "The Old Brick House," on Pasquotank River 62 Fairfax, the Home of General Isaac Gregory 112 The Eagle Tavern, Hertford 130 The Cupola House, Edenton 154 IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE CHAPTER I WIKACOME IN WEAPOMEIOK, THE HOME OF GEORGE DURANT In Perquimans County, North Carolina, there lies between the beautiful Perquimans River on the west, and her fair and placid sister, the Katoline or Little River, on the east, a lovely strip of land to which the red man in days long gone, gave the name of Wikacome. The broad sound whose tawny waters wash the southern shores of this peninsula, as well as all that tract of land lying between the Chowan River and the Atlantic Ocean, were known to the primitive dwellers in that region as Weapomeiok. Not until George Durant came into Carolina, and following him a thin stream of settlers that finally overflowed the surrounding country, did the beautiful Indian names give place to those by which they are now known. Then Wikacome became the familiar Durant's Neck, and the waters of Weapomeiok and the territory known to the aborigines by the same name, changed to the historic cognomen of Albemarle.