Edenton-Windsor Loop

Edenton-Windsor Loop traces an 87-mile figure-eight through northeastern North Carolina, starting and ending in Edenton, the state's first colonial capital. Settled in 1685 and once one of the most prosperous ports in colonial America, Edenton anchors a route that crosses the nearly two-mile-wide Chowan River, named for the Algonquian people who lived along its banks. Midway through the loop, drivers reach the Cashie River, where the byway crosses aboard the Sans Souci, one of only two remaining cable-operated, two-car ferries left in North Carolina. The route winds through Bertie, Chowan, and Washington counties past old plantation sites, working farmland, and the Cashie Wetlands, with Edenton's own historic district offering a walkable tour of colonial and Federal-era buildings. Local lore ties the area to the pirate Blackbeard, said to have frequented these coastal waters before his death nearby in 1718. It's one of the longer and more history-dense byways in the state's Albemarle region, best driven with time to stop in each small river town.

• Edenton, NC's first colonial capital
• 87-mile figure-eight loop
• Chowan River crossing
• Sans Souci cable ferry
• Cashie Wetlands
• Blackbeard lore