Belhaven is a waterfront town in Beaufort County,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, United States. The population was 1,410 at the 2020 census. Belhaven is located in North Carolina's

Inner Banks The Inner Banks are the inland coastal region of eastern North Carolina. Without historical precedent, the term "Inner Banks" is an early 21st-century construct that is part of an attempt to rebrand the mostly agrarian Coastal Plains east of I-95 ...

region.

History

The Belhaven City Hall was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1981.

Healthcare

The community formerly had a hospital,

Pungo District Hospital Pungo District Hospital, known for a period as Vidant Pungo Hospital, was a hospital in Belhaven, North Carolina. It opened in 1949, was acquired by Vidant Health in 2011, and closed in 2014. History The hospital opened in 1949. It was initially ...

, which opened in 1949. Pantego Creek LLC, the operator, asked for a third party to acquire the hospital as the operator could not pay for the care of the large number of

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

and Medicare patients using the hospital. In 2011 Vidant Health acquired the hospital; in 2013 Vidant stated that it was unable to keep the hospital in operation due to poor finances and announced that it was going to close the hospital. Pantego Creek Board closed it in 2014, and it was demolished in 2016. Vidant opened a non-emergency clinic in the area.

Geography

Belhaven is located on the north shore of the

Pungo River The Pungo River is a river in eastern North Carolina, United States. It originally began in the Great Dismal Swamp in Washington County, North Carolina; the upper part of the river has since been supplanted by the Pungo River Canal, dug in the 1 ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 23.88%, is water.

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,410 people, 756 households, and 377 families residing in the town.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,968 people, 827 households, and 530 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,015 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 37.30%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 60.67%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.15% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 0.71% from other races, and 0.71% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.69% of the population. There were 827 households, out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 22.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.99. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 19.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 81.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $16,674, and the median income for a family was $23,958. Males had a median income of $23,839 versus $16,741 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $11,086. About 32.0% of families and 35.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 41.6% of those under age 18 and 38.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Beaufort County Schools operates public schools. Northside High School is the local high school. Belhaven High School, an all-black school, was built in 1950. The school's first principal was Greene T. (GT) Swinson. In operation until the late 1960s or early 1970s, it was transformed into an elementary school, Belhaven Elementary. The school is no longer in operation. There is a private school, Pungo Christian Academy (K-12). BHM Regional Library operates the Belhaven Public Library.

Notable people

* Eva Narcissus Boyd, singer, known professionally as "Little Eva"; performer of "the Locomotion" * C. J. Wilson -

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

football player

References

External links

Town of Belhaven official website

Belhaven Community Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Towns in North Carolina Towns in Beaufort County, North Carolina