[2] Pamlico County is part of the New Bern, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area.

The area eventually comprising Pamlico County was first settled by European colonists in the early 1700s.

[5] Historian Joe Mobley states that the court's location varied until Bayboro was designated.

[3] The county is anchored on the east by Oriental, a popular waystation for boaters traveling the Intracoastal Waterway, and by unincorporated Lowland.

[8] Census reports show a marked drop of nearly 10 percent in county population from 1910 to 1920, the period of the Great Migration of African Americans from rural areas of the South to northern and midwestern industrial cities offering more economic and social opportunities.

Workers were recruited by northern industries, including the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was rapidly expanding at the time.

Pamlico County is governed by an elected, seven-member Board of Commissioners.

[16] By the requirements of the North Carolina Constitution of 1868, the county was divided into 5 townships, which are only numbered: