Dare

Formed January 1, 1870 (91^st county)

Dare County (36,910), Manteo (1,595), Kill Devil Hills (7,645)

The 2002 red brick Modern courthouse sits at the corner of Marshall Connells and United States Highway 64.  An Administrative Center was also built in 2002.  Heery International, Inc., are the architects.  The courthouse features columns.  Manteo has always been the county seat.  The county was organized on January 1, 1870 from parts of Currituck, Hyde, and Tyrrell counties as the 91^st county.  Dare County is named for the first child born in America, Virginia Dare.  The county seat is named for a Native American chief. 

Dare County government consists of a manager, a register, a sheriff, an attorney, and a clerk (executive).  It has 7 Commissioners (legislative.)  Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Dare, Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Tyrrell, Vance, Warren, Washington, and Wilson counties, Four District Court Judges serve Dare, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Pasquotank, and Perquimans counties and a court clerk serves Dare County (judicial.)  The county is in the northeast on the coast.  Norfolk, Virginia is north and Raleigh, North Carolina is west of the county.  The county center is 8 miles South-Southeast of Manteo nearer Rodanthe.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Currituck County and the Atlantic Ocean and Hyde and Tyrrell counties. 

The area of the county is 1542 square miles.  It is 1 out of 100 in the state.  It ranks 66 out of 100 in population in the state.  It has a density of 23.9 persons per square mile making it 96 out of 100 in the state.  Dare County has 54.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 64 originates in the county and travels west into Tyrrell County.  United States Highway 158 enters from the north, Currituck County, and terminates.  United States Highway 264 originates and goes southwest into Hyde County.  The county is a muffin shape facing east plus a large portion of the outer banks’ barrier islands.  Manteo is on an interior island inside the outer banks.  Kill Devil Hills is on the northeast part of the outer banks’ islands.  Manteo is the county seat and Kill Devil Hills is the largest city.  Manteo is 4.3% of the county population while Kill Devil Hills is 20.7% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced MAN-TEE-OE.  This county is in the Kill Devil Hills Micropolitan Statistical Area.