Perquimans County, and the Town of Hertford

Let me get the confusing part out of the way in the first paragraph, because if I do not, it will sit in the back of your head for the rest of this brief.

That is not a technicality. It routes mail wrong, it routes tax bills wrong, and I have watched it route buyers to the wrong side of the Chowan River on a Saturday morning. So throughout this brief I will say "the town of Hertford" or "Hertford, NC (Perquimans County)" and I will not say a bare "Hertford" where a reader could reasonably take it for the county. That is a precision rule, not an avoidance rule — the town's name is what people actually type into a search bar, and it belongs here, said correctly.

What the County Actually Is

Perquimans County sits on the north shore of the Albemarle Sound in the northeastern corner of North Carolina, between Chowan County to the west and Pasquotank County to the east. It is one of the oldest counties in the state — the National Register nomination for the Old Neck Historic District says it was "formed circa 1668," while NCpedia gives 1679. I am giving you both because both are published by credible sources and I have not found a document that settles it. If a listing agent tells you a firm date, ask which source.

The size of the place, from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer files: 247.173 square miles of land, plus another 81.759 square miles of water. That water-to-land ratio is most of what you need to know about the county's character.

Two more numbers from the same ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates, because they frame everything in Chapter 7: the median value of owner-occupied units is $231,700, and median household income is $67,917. Those are the Census Bureau's figures for the county as a whole, not a listing price and not a sale price. I do not publish local market medians anywhere on this site, and the market report page explains why.

The Town of Hertford

The county seat is the town of Hertford, and it is small in a way people consistently underestimate before they visit. The 2020 Census counted 1,934 residents; the Census Bureau's July 2025 subcounty estimate puts it at about 2,011. The town's land area is 2.861 square miles. You can walk the whole downtown in twenty minutes and you will have seen the courthouse, the waterfront, and most of the commercial storefronts.

The town's own official site says it plainly: "The Town of Hertford was established in 1758," that it is "North Carolina's seventh oldest town," and that it is "the county seat of Perquimans County and located on the beautiful Perquimans River." NCpedia adds that it was named after Hertford, England — which is, incidentally, also where Hertford County got its name, which is exactly how two unrelated places in one state ended up sharing one word.

What the town has: a courthouse and county offices, a compact historic downtown on the river, churches, an elementary school and the county high school, and a waterfront that is genuinely the best thing about the place. What it does not have: a hospital, a big-box store, or most categories of specialty retail. Chapter 6 gives you the honest inventory rather than a paragraph of hedging here.

Winfall, Belvidere, and the Rest of the Map

The other incorporated town is Winfall, immediately north of the town of Hertford across the river, small enough that in practice it functions as part of the same community. Winfall has its own National Register historic district (listed 2003) and its own municipal tax rate, which happens to be identical to the town of Hertford's — see Chapter 7.

Belvidere, in the northwest of the county, is unincorporated but carries a National Register historic district of its own (listed 1999) and a long Quaker history. Beyond those three names, the county is farmland, woods, and a lot of water frontage on the Perquimans River and its creeks. If you are buying outside town limits, assume well and septic until proven otherwise — Chapter 5 covers who permits what.

Who Actually Buys Here

In my experience the buyers who end up in Perquimans County arrive along one of five paths, and the rest of this brief is organised around them.

If you are not sure which of those you are, Chapter 8 is a decision framework rather than a summary, and it is the chapter I would read second.

Sources for this chapter. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Decennial Census (DHC, table P1), Population Estimates Program vintage 2025, and American Community Survey 2020–2024 five-year estimates (tables DP04, DP03). Land area: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer files. Town founding and county-seat status: Town of Hertford. County formation dates: NCpedia (1679) and the NC HPO National Register nomination for the Old Neck Historic District (circa 1668). Historic district listing years: NC State Historic Preservation Office.