North Carolina’s first capital along the Albemarle Sound wraps you up in history and hospitality. Here’s where to stay and what to do in Edenton.
by Page Leggett
The saying that everyone knows everyone in a small town may be trite, but it’s true.
One weekend in Edenton — North Carolina’s first capital and one of the loveliest, friendliest cities you’ll ever visit — proves the point.
Clayton, the guide on my trolley tour, pointed out St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, which dates back to 1736 and is the second-oldest church in the state. He encouraged his tourgoers to come back to see inside.
“Don’t come at 1 o’clock, though,” he said. “There’s a funeral then.”
Shortly after, my Airbnb host, Sambo Dixon, also suggested I tour the church, where his family has been members since the 1700s. He shared the same warning Clayton had.
That’s the beauty of a small town: News travels fast, and folks look out for each other.
Restore, repurpose or relocate
A travel writer once dubbed Edenton, 4.5 hours from Charlotte, “the prettiest small town in the South.” It just might be.
Settled in 1712 as a British colony, the enclave (population: about 5,000) on the banks of the Albemarle Sound has taken care to preserve its history — something Charlotte, which looks like it was settled in the 1970s, could learn from.
“We don’t tear anything down,” Clayton said. “We restore it, repurpose it or move it.”
The evidence is everywhere: at the Cupola House, built in 1758 for an agent of King George II who collected — trigger warning! — tariffs from incoming ships; at the 1886 Roanoke River lighthouse; at the state’s oldest wooden house, built in 1718.
George Washington never slept here, but in 1819, President James Monroe dined at the Chowan County Courthouse. Built in 1767, it’s the state’s oldest government building.
No strangers here
While you can’t help but notice the town’s well-preserved history, just as prominent is its hospitality. Locals joke that the town is so friendly, it has two welcome centers.
One, the Historic Edenton Visitor Center (108 N. Broad St.), seems ancient, having been built in 1892 — until you learn that the other (Penelope Barker House at 101 W. Water St.) was built a century earlier.
The bar at Surf, Wind and Fire and Waterman’s Grill
The Broad Street welcome center offers a 13-minute film about Edenton’s history, exhibits and tours, including one of the lighthouse — the last remaining screw-pile lighthouse in the state.
The other is perhaps the best place to start your Edenton adventure. The Penelope Barker House is a three-story, waterfront Georgian home with a gift shop, exhibits and a friendly volunteer selling tickets ($12.50 for adults) for the trolley tour.
An early resistance movement
Barker brought together local women to draft and sign a petition to King George II denouncing the Tea Act of 1773.
The story goes that on Oct. 25, 1774 — 10 months after a more famous “Tea Party” in Boston — she gathered 51 local women to support a boycott of British tea and cloth. They shunned English tea and instead drank a concoction made from local herbs. The “Edenton Tea Party” may have been America’s first political demonstration led by women. The downright genteel protest gave Edenton an enduring symbol you’ll see around town on murals and at the town green, where a 250-pound bronze teapot sits atop a Revolutionary War cannon.
Sleep with history
Appropriately, I stayed in an Airbnb that’s been part of Edenton since the year Black men were granted the right to vote. The Library at Beverly Hall is as rich in history as any of Edenton’s public buildings.
Built in 1870, the year the 15th Amendment was ratified, it served as the freestanding library for one of Edenton’s finest homes. Sambo Dixon, the owner, lives with his wife, Gray, on the property in the grand house he grew up in. His law office is part of the compound, too. The two-bedroom library is filled with antiques and original art — both vintage and modern — and has a full kitchen, formal dining and living rooms, sun porch, and views of Edenton’s oldest formal garden.
If you prefer a B&B to an Airbnb, consider the elegant Inner Banks Inn or the Granville Queen Inn, built in the early 1900s and renovated in 2022. Both are a short walk to attractions, including the Cupola House, which Vonna O’Neill, its president, calls “our town’s crown jewel.”
Early adopters
Built in 1758, the Jacobean-style Cupola House looks out onto Edenton Bay, one of the colonies’ busiest ports. Its original owner, Francis Corbin, could watch cargo ships sail into the harbor and await the tariffs owed by every ship.
Dr. Samuel Dickinson bought the property in 1777, and it stayed in the family for more than 140 years. By the early 1900s, however, the home’s then-owner fell on hard times and sold off parts of it. The Brooklyn Museum acquired the woodwork in 1918.
As a result, citizens came together to protect their architectural treasure. They formed the Cupola House Association, launching the historic-preservation movement in North Carolina.
“Charleston, widely known for its love of historic preservation, didn’t get on the bandwagon until two years later,” O’Neill says.
The town asked the museum to return the woodwork in 1964. Sixty years later — just last year — the museum gifted it back.
The Granville Queen Inn’s dining porch and The historic Cupola House and Heritage Gardens
Eatin’ton
No one will mistake Edenton for Vegas. According to the website Edenton This Week, the town’s nightlife can mean “a stroll along the waterfront after a wonderful dinner” or watching the stars from a park bench.
One place to enjoy that dinner is Waterman’s Grill. Like so much else, it’s on Broad Street, downtown’s main drag. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, but you can call ahead, and they’ll try to accommodate to help you avoid the lines that stretch outside.
At 309 Bistro, which is open for lunch and dinner, fried local flounder and chicken with redeye gravy are standouts.
Around the corner, and serving lunch, brunch and dinner, is The Herringbone on The Waterfront. Originally built in the 1800s to house Edenton Ice Company, it’s been beautifully restored as a rustic, but fine-dining, establishment. Tidewater shrimp and grits (tasso ham, roasted red peppers, heirloom cherry tomatoes and smoked tomato gravy) is a star at lunch. Pan-seared scallops; coffee-rubbed teres major and steak frites are delicious dinner choices.
You could catch a film at Taylor Theater, a former opera house that’s been given new life as a movie theater. Or relax at Graybeards, a cozy cigar and whiskey bar with exposed brick and copper accents that opened last October in a former saloon.
Gone fishin’
Life in Edenton revolves around water, so kayaking, canoeing, fishing and paddleboarding are readily available. There are birding and paddle trails for amateur ornithologists, as well as a fish hatchery that’s home to bald eagles, shorebirds and more.
If your idea of recreation is shopping, Broad Street offers more than you’d expect in a small town. Behind a show-stopping storefront, A Still Life sells gorgeous homewares, jewelry and a small but high-end selection of women’s clothes. North No. 4 has great gift items, and Downtown Diva stocks on-trend clothing.
You could get happily lost inside Byrum True Value Hardware and Gifts, which carries fine china and crystal along with garden hoses and screwdrivers.
Stock up on outdoor gear at Surf, Wind and Fire. Not in the market for a tent or camp stove? It’s still worth stopping in to hang at the Surfing Pig Sip + Shop, an in-store bar serving coffee and craft beer.
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A trip to Edenton is a trip back in time. But for some, it’s a glimpse into the future. People have been known to up and move to Edenton after a weekend visit. When Vonna O’Neill and her late husband did, they were welcomed like old friends.
You get a similar welcome at the Cupola House, she says.
“There’s a quietness to it. You feel embraced by history.”
Edenton embraces a lot — from the past to newcomers to tourists passing through. I told O’Neill how taken I’d been with the town’s friendliness. She left me with a quote from Peggy Anne Vaughan, wife of Edenton’s former mayor, Roland Vaughan (who held that post for more than two decades): “If you embrace Edenton, Edenton will embrace you.” SP
Featured image: 1886 Roanoke River Lighthouse. Photographs courtesy Visit Edenton.
