Moyock is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...

(CDP) in Currituck County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 3,759.

Geography

Moyock is located on

North Carolina Highway 168 North Carolina Highway 168 (NC 168) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Known as Caratoke Highway, the state highway runs from US 158 in Barco north to the Virginia state line in Moyock, where the hig ...

just south of the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

state line. The community sits at the end of the

Chesapeake Expressway State Route 168 is a primary state highway in the South Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It runs from the border with North Carolina (where it continues as North Carolina Highway 168 towards the Outer Banks) through the in ...

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implement ...

, and is only south of downtown

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

. Because of this, Moyock has begun to witness an increase in residential development as an emerging

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many ...

for the

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic ...

region. NC 168 leads southeast to Currituck, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

Driving distances

Areas north of the N.C. state line are a short to medium distance away. Moyock is the closest of all North Carolina locales to the following places: *The

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia. ...

at Fisherman Island before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel toll booth is to the north. *The

Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, also called the Mason and Dixon line or Mason's and Dixon's line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (part of Virginia ...

Selbyville, Delaware Selbyville is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. Its population was 2,167 at the 2010 census, an increase of 31.7% over the previous decade. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Se ...

, is to the north. *The New Jersey state line where crossed by the Cape May-Lewes Ferry in the middle of

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inland ...

is to the north ( into the bay after leaving

Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...

). This is the closest distance that North Carolina is to the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, there were 5,154 people, 1,563 households, and 1,187 families residing in the CDP.

Greyhound racing in Moyock

Local

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tr ...

was originally in Norfolk County in the 1930s, until Virginia officials shut down the Cavalier Kennel Club (CKC). The CKC moved their operations a half mile south of the state line to a quarter-mile oval track in Moyock on

. Prior to when they moved to Moyock, the CKC attracted gamblers and spectators from all over the Hampton Roads region from the late 1940s until the early 1950s. The track's primary market was the thousands of service men (mostly

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

personnel) that were stationed in Norfolk. Not long after its establishment in North Carolina, anti-gambling advocates and the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

upheld the North Carolina State Legislature's anti-dog-racing law in 1954. It was until 2009 that the CKC was able to claim that Paul Hartwell invented the greyhound letter rating system, which stood as the standard for all greyhound racing, which also led to the Composite Speed Rating system.

NASCAR in Moyock

After the Cavalier Kennel Club (CKC) was eliminated by the North Carolina General Assembly in the 1950s, Moyock began to host

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

at the renamed Dog Track Speedway (DTS). Built on the former site of the CKC, the one-quarter-mile oval dirt track was then paved and lengthened to one-third of a mile in 1964. At the DTS, it hosted seven

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

races from 1962 until 1966. The Moyock 300 was held there from 1964–1965 in addition to the Tidewater 300 in 1965.

Ned Jarrett Ned Jarrett (born October 12, 1932) is an American retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR Grand National Series champion. Because of his calm demeanor, he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". He is the father of former drivers Glenn J ...

won the most races at the track with two wins in 1962 and 1964. Jarret's Ford raced and won all six times, totaling $4,631 in winnings.

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably ...

, a North Carolina native from Randleman, also raced there six times, driving a Plymouth in every race. Despite being on the pole twice (1965 & 1966), Petty never finished above 3rd place. His total winnings at the DTS were $1,700. The final NASCAR race at the DTS ran on Sunday, May 29, 1966. It was 301 laps (99.9 miles), and David Pearson took the checkered flag in a 1964 Dodge with an average speed of and winning $1,000. The track was closed later in 1966 due to declining attendance, poor revenues and larger tracks being built nearby.

International business

Moyock was the corporate headquarters of

Blackwater Worldwide Blackwater was an American private military company founded on December 26, 1996 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009 and known as Academi since 2011 after it was acquired by a group of private investors. ...

, which was renamed Xe Services LLC, and relocated to

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

, as

Academi Blackwater was an American private military company founded on December 26, 1996 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009 and known as Academi since 2011 after it was acquired by a group of private investors ...

References

External links

Moyock Fire Department
{{authority control Census-designated places in Currituck County, North Carolina Census-designated places in North Carolina Blackwater (company)