Albemarle Sound

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Albemarle Sound" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Albemarle Sound (/ˈælbəˌmɑːrl/) 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 Currituck Banks, a barrier peninsula upon which the town of Kitty Hawk is located, at the eastern edge of the sound, and part of the greater Outer Banks region. 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 water bordering the eastern shore of the island to the Outer Banks is commonly referred to as Roanoke Sound (this is also a historical name for the entire body of water now known as Albemarle Sound^[1][2]). 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.

Albemarle Sound forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Early English colonists, mostly migrants from Virginia, settled along its in the first permanent European settlements in what became North Carolina; these were known as the English Albemarle Settlements. Many inland Tidewater communities along the Albemarle today are classified as part of the Inner Banks region of the state.