Stand at the corner of Church and Market in the town of Hertford on a Tuesday morning and you can hear the county deciding what it is. The air off the Perquimans smells like river mud and diesel from a crab boat tied up downstream. A boat taps its horn for the swing bridge. The gears turn, the draw creaks open, and eight minutes of your morning go to somebody’s sailboat. Nobody honks.
Two miles north, across the Perquimans River, Winfall is already past that. Eight miles northwest, out NC 37 past the soybean fields, Belvidere is a country store and a couple of Quaker meetinghouses where the loudest thing you’ll hear is a truck gearing down for the crossroads.
Three names, one county, and three different kinds of life. If you’re moving to Perquimans, this is the map you actually need.
Three Names, One County
Perquimans is 247.173 square miles of land with another 81.759 square miles of water running through and around it1. The Census counted 13,005 people here in 2020, estimated at about 13,490 by July 20252. Almost every one of them lives in or near three places.
Two are incorporated towns: the town of Hertford, which is the county seat, and Winfall, just north of it. The third, Belvidere, is not a town at all. It’s an unincorporated Quaker farming community in the northwest, and it earns its place on this list anyway.
That incorporated-or-not line is not trivia. It decides who plows your street, who sets your tax rate, and who you call when a ditch backs up.
One thing to get straight first, because it trips up mail, titles and search results every week: this is Perquimans County, and its county seat is the town of Hertford. Hertford County, whose seat is Winton, is a different county about 45 minutes west3.
The Town of Hertford: Walk It in Twenty Minutes
The town was established in 1758 and calls itself North Carolina’s seventh oldest town4. The Census counted 1,934 residents in 2020, with a July 2025 estimate near 2,011, packed into 2.861 square miles5.
That’s the whole town. You can walk from the courthouse to the waterfront in a few minutes, past the churches, the storefronts and the old houses. Hertford Grammar serves grades 3 through 5 and sits here, and so does Perquimans County High, grades 9 through 126.
The river is the reason it’s here. The US 17 Business swing bridge crosses the Perquimans at the edge of downtown, and it opens on signal under a federal rule: 8 a.m. to midnight from April through September, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. the rest of the year7. If your route crosses it, that schedule is part of your morning.
What you give up for the walkability is scale. The county’s two biggest errands, a hospital and a big-box store, are both somewhere else8.
Winfall: The Town Across the River
Winfall incorporated in 1887 and counted 554 residents in 2020, spread across 2.32 square miles9. That’s nearly as much land as Hertford holds, with less than a third of the people on it.
It sits just north of Hertford on the far side of the Perquimans, and in practice the two run together as one community. Winfall has its own National Register historic district, listed in 200310, and it holds two of the county’s four schools: Perquimans Central for pre-K through second grade, and Perquimans County Middle for grades 6 through 86.
The short drive is the selling point. Winfall to the courthouse in Hertford is about 1.4 miles, roughly 3 minutes on OpenStreetMap routing11. To Elizabeth City it’s about 17 miles and 23 minutes.
The trade: because Winfall runs straight into Hertford, it doesn’t have a separate downtown to anchor it. You get the town’s services and the town’s schools without a main street of its own.
Belvidere: Quaker Country in the Northwest
Belvidere is the one that isn’t a town. It’s an unincorporated community in the northwest part of the county, at NC 37 and Perry’s Bridge Road, built up by Quakers and part of the Elizabeth City micropolitan area12.
The National Register historic district went on the list on June 4, 1999. It covers 324 acres and 68 contributing buildings around the village, developed between about 1800 and 1949, with Federal and Greek Revival houses standing among the fields13.
Quaker history in this corner of the county reaches back to the 1670s, and the county’s tourism guide points visitors to two Friends meetinghouses, Piney Woods and Upriver, and to the old country store known as Layden’s14. The disc jockey Wolfman Jack moved out here and lived in Belvidere until his death in 199512.
What Belvidere gives you is land, farmland and a slower pace. What it costs you is convenience. The drive to Hertford is about 8 miles and 14 minutes, to Edenton about 20 miles and 33 minutes, and to Elizabeth City about 22 miles and 31 minutes11. And outside the town lines, in a county this rural, you should assume well and septic until proven otherwise8.
How to Choose Between Them
Here is the short version, sorted by what usually decides it.
If you want to walk to the water and the courthouse, pick the town of Hertford. You get the historic grid, the schools, the river access and the bridge. You also take on the county seat’s daily business and its parking.
If you want the town’s services without the historic-district rules, look at Winfall. Three minutes from Hertford, its own town government, two of the four schools. You give up a distinct downtown.
If you want acreage, a Quaker village and a shorter run to Edenton and Elizabeth City, look at Belvidere. You give up town utilities and any expectation of a sidewalk.
What Actually Decides It
Four things do most of the work.
Schools, and there’s less to decide than you’d think. Perquimans County has one high school. Wherever you buy in the county, your child attends Perquimans County High6. There is no in-county assignment puzzle to solve. What changes by location is the bus ride and which elementary and middle school you’re zoned to: Central and Middle in Winfall, Grammar in Hertford.
Taxes and who runs the place. The town of Hertford and Winfall carry the same municipal tax rate, so moving between the two doesn’t move that number8. Buy outside both town lines, in the Belvidere area or the unincorporated county, and you’re on county services instead.
Water, sewer and the lot itself. Inside the densest blocks you may be on town utilities. Outside the town lines, plan on a well and a septic system and price the tests into your due diligence8. Those permits run through Albemarle Regional Health Services, not a town hall3.
Drive time, measured rather than guessed. Winfall to Hertford is about 3 minutes. Belvidere to Hertford is about 14. Belvidere to Elizabeth City is about 31, and to Edenton about 3311.
What I Tell Buyers
The county is small enough that the choice is really about what you want to hear at night: a boat horn at the bridge, a mower three doors down, or a truck gearing down at a crossroads.
None of these numbers is a promise. The land areas and Census counts are solid. The drive times are free-flow estimates from OpenStreetMap and assume you meet no traffic, so drive your real route at your real hour before you make an offer.
If you want to talk through which of the three fits what you’re actually after, call (252) 202-4945. I’ve watched the swing bridge cost somebody eight minutes, and I’ve watched a buyer learn the hard way that the house she loved ran on a well. Twenty minutes on the phone sorts most of it out.
Footnotes
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US Census Bureau, 2024 Gazetteer Files: Perquimans County land area (247.173 sq mi) and water area (81.759 sq mi). ↩
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US Census Bureau: 2020 Decennial Census (13,005) and Population Estimates Program, July 2025 vintage (about 13,490). ↩
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Perquimans County Buyer’s Brief, Ch. 1 and Ch. 5 (the town of Hertford vs Hertford County; well and septic permits through Albemarle Regional Health Services). ↩ ↩2
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Town of Hertford, “Our Heritage”: established 1758; seventh oldest town in North Carolina. ↩
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US Census Bureau, 2020 Census and July 2025 subcounty population estimate; 2024 Gazetteer for town land area (2.861 sq mi). ↩
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NC DPI School Report Cards, 2024-25 (Perquimans County Schools, LEA 720): grade spans and school locations. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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33 CFR 117.835: drawbridge operation, US 17 bridge at Hertford, mile 12.0. ↩
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Perquimans County Buyer’s Brief, Ch. 1, Ch. 6 and Ch. 7 (no hospital or big-box store in the county; outside town limits assume well and septic; Hertford and Winfall municipal tax rates identical). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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US Census Bureau, 2020 Census; Winfall incorporated 1887; total area 2.32 sq mi. ↩
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National Register of Historic Places: Winfall Historic District, listed 2003. ↩
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OpenStreetMap / OSRM routing, October 2026: free-flow driving distance and time, not traffic-adjusted. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Wikipedia, “Belvidere, North Carolina” (unincorporated community in Perquimans County; northwest of Hertford and Winfall at NC 37 and Perry’s Bridge Road; Elizabeth City micropolitan area; Wolfman Jack). ↩ ↩2
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National Register of Historic Places: Belvidere Historic District, listed June 4, 1999 (NRHP reference 99000600; 324 acres; 68 contributing buildings; developed about 1800 to 1949; Federal and Greek Revival). ↩
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Visit North Carolina’s Northeast (visitncne.com), Belvidere National Register Historic District (Quaker roots dating to the 1670s; Piney Woods and Upriver Friends meetinghouses; Layden’s store). ↩
