Pamlico Sound

Pamlico Sound is a vast shallow lagoon separated from the Atlantic by the sandy islands of the Outer Banks. It connects with a chain of sounds and inlets along the Carolina coast, receiving water from the rivers of the mainland. The sound takes its name from the Pamlico people, whom the Raleigh expeditions recorded as the Pamouik in the 1580s. To the north, Roanoke Island became the site of an English settlement whose colonists had disappeared by the time a relief voyage returned in 1590.