Who We Are

Columbia Office Hours

Every Monday, beginning May 29, a staff member will be on site to answer any questions you might have about the Palmetto-Peartree Preserve. You can find us at the Preserve from 10:30am to 12:00pm and in our Columbia office (212 Main St.) from 12:15pm to 3:00pm. Be sure to stop by and say hello.

The Conservation Fund - North Carolina Office

P.O. Box 271
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Phone: 919-967-2223
Fax: 919-967-9702

Tyrrell County Visitor Center

203 South Ludington Drive
Columbia, NC 27925
Phone: 252-796-0723
Fax: 252-796-0303

Then . . .
The Palmetto-Peartree Preserve is located in Tyrrell County, North Carolina. Tyrrell County, situated in the northeast portion of the state, is bordered by the Albemarle Sound to the north and the Alligator River to the east. Tyrrell County’s rich history dates back well before European settlement, to a time when the Secota Indians inhabited the Albemarle peninsula. In 1585 John White and members of the Roanoke Island colony became the first European settlers to map and explore the area, which they referred to as "South Shore." Later, in 1663 King Charles II of England gave the Albemarle region to eight of his friends, who were officially called The Lords Proprietors. The county is named after one of these proprietors, Sir John Tyrrell. In 1704 Fort Landing became the first settlement in Tyrrell County, built on the Alligator Creek. Columbia, the county seat, was chartered in 1793 by the North Carolina General Assembly. Columbia was orginially called Elizabeth Town. In 1810 officials changed the town’s name in order to avoid confusion with Elizabethtown in Bladen County.

The population of Tyrrell County has fluctuated over time in response to historic events and social changes. The county grew in population until the Civil War, when battle took the lives of many of the county’s men. Shortly thereafter the population was hit again, when an epidemic of Spanish influenza claimed many more lives in 1918. Tyrrell County slowly bounced back, however, and the population hit a record high roughly twenty years later, when the 1940 US census reported a population of over 5,000. Population began to drop off yet again after Norfolk Southern Railroad cancelled service to Columbia and closed its depot there.

. . . and Now
As of the 2000 census, Tyrrell County had a population of 4,149, making it the least populated county in the state. Major industries in the region include agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The county is divided into five townships: Alligator, Columbia, Gum Neck, Scuppernong, and South Fork. Columbia serves as the county seat for Tyrrell County and has a population of 819, according to the 2000 census. In many ways, Tyrrell County’s small population has served to keep its environment pristine and its cultural heritage thriving. Tyrrell County boasts three protected areas--Palmetto-Peartree Preserve, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, and Emily and Richard Preyer-Buckridge Coastal Preserve--and provides habitat for a number of threatened and endangered species. Festivals and events celebrating the County’s cultural heritage take place throughout the year. So come and visit Tyrrell County, where life remains "unspoiled, uncrowded, uncomplicated."

Want to Know More?
For more information on Tyrrell County be sure to check out the Tyrrell County website .

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In the 1920s the lands that make up the Palmetto-Peartree Preserve were owned by the Foreman family. The Foremans operated a large sawmill in Elizabeth City and used the land to supply the mill. In the early 1950s a second generation of the Foreman family used the land for two different activities. One group of descendants converted a portion of the property into pasture, raising dairy cattle and producing ice cream that was sold in the local market. Another part of the family continued to harvest timber for the sawmill. Around the 1960s the land was sold to Butler Land and Timber who built a sawmill with the intention of using the land’s timber to supply the mill. Ultimately, the company bought most of its timber on the open market and the majority of the land remained forested. These forests now provide critical habitat for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW).

In the early 1990s the mill closed, and the land was sold to Environmental Timber on behalf of Prudential Financial in 1996. At the time of the sale RCWs were discovered on the property, and after a year the company decided to sell the land. The Conservation Fund bought the land in 1999 with funding from the North Carolina Department of Transportation to manage the property as a RCW mitigation bank. Protection of the RCWs at the preserve mitigates RCW habitat lost in road construction projects. The property was named the Palmetto-Peartree Preserve due to Palmetto Point and Peartree Point, two land protrusions that extend into the Albemarle Sound.