Eastern North Carolina Encyclopedia/Bertie County
BERTIE COUNTY
The home-seeker and investor will find in Bertie County, a pleasant land, a hospitable people, a productive soil, a low valuation of property, and a low tax rate; good schools, convenient churches, and a warm welcome.
Its population is homogeneous and law-abiding. The feeling between the races is friendly and cordial. We have nearly a half million acres of land, and around twenty-five thousand people. We have room for all who wish to better themselves.
The Bankhead National Highway passes north and south through the county; and the county has a well organized road system and force. The surface of the county is gently rolling, to rolling. Its highest point above the sea level is 97 feet. All of the lands are capable of drainage. A dozen rivers, creeks and swamps furnish an outlet for water.
According to Weather Bureau reports the mean annual temperature is 60.3 F. The winter mean is 42.5, and the summer mean is 77.5. The date of the last killing frost in the spring is April 26th, and that of the earliest in the fall, October 12th. The average date of the last killing frost in the spring is April 1st, and that of the first in the fall, November 1st. This gives an average growing season of 214 days, amply sufficient for maturing all farm and garden crops. There is an ample average rainfall of 50.93. The rainfall is well distributed, the heaviest in the summer and the lightest in the fall. The lands are wonderfully fertile and adapted to any crops raised on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. There are twenty-one soil types in the county in addition to the swamps and pocosins. The main crops raised are cotton, peanuts, tobacco, corn and vegetables. The per acre production of these crops is largely above the average.
The Roanoke River on the west, the Chowan River on the east, and the Cashie River in the center furnish cheap water transportation. Railroad transportation serves the northern and western parts of the county.
The forests of the county have been cut over, but the soil is naturally timber bearing and reforesting is very rapid. Pine, cypress, ash, maple, oak and gum are the predominating commercial woods.
The population of Bertie County is agricultural and rural. There are a half dozen localities where the establishment of a factory of any character would enlist intelligent labor and not disturb the farm work by withdrawal of such persons from the farm. Large families are the rule in the county.
The county is splendidly adapted to the raising of large sheep, cattle and poultry. The cut-over lands and the pocosins and semi-swamps afford bountiful grazing on grass and young reeds.
The waters within the county and bordering on it are full of both food and sport fish. The herring, shad, perch, and rock of the Albemarle section are justly famed for their excellence and food supply. Bertie County borders on the head of Albemarle Sound and these edible fish reach perfection here. The canning of fish roe is an inviting field for profitable investment.
Game is abundant and consists of deer, wild turkeys, quail, squirrel, wild ducks and other game birds. Hook and line fishing is an inviting sport.
Berries and nuts grow here in abundance, especially strawberries and pecans. English walnuts thrive well.
There are fine areas for colonization. The cut-over "piney woods" section can be bought cheap and made garden spots of productivity.
Ninety-three per cent of the adult population are members of some church. Baptist, Episcopal and Methodist churches are in the towns and scattered about the county.
The county has a number of good country schools and is determined to give its youth every educational advantage.
Bertie County employs a whole-time health officer. The health of the people is generally good, and the citizenship is robust, energetic and thrifty.
Public roads reach all sections of the county, and the whole population is well served by rural delivery and telephone.
The population of the county descended from Scotch-Irish and English ancestry. There is no foreign population.
The southern practice of hospitality still abides. The stranger within our gates is made to feel at home by our whole-hearted welcome of "howdy, come in."