Elizabethtown is a town in and the county seat of Bladen County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,296 at the 2020 census.

History

Some hold that Elizabethtown is named for Elizabeth, the wife of George Carteret, while others believe it was named for the love interest of a local landowner.

The Bladen County Training School, Mt. Horeb Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, and Trinity Methodist Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Elizabethtown has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.73%, is water.

The Bladen Lakes State Forest, located just north of the town limits, is the largest state-owned forest in North Carolina, covering .

Elizabethtown is located in the center of the Bladen Lakes region, a region characterized by its high concentration of water-filled Carolina bays and acidic pocosins. Because of this, the town acts as a gateway to many natural points of interest, including Jones Lake State Park, located to the north; Singletary Lake State Park, located to the southeast;

Climate

Elizabethtown has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with long, hot summers and short, cool to mild winters.

Extreme weather

Due to its location in the coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina, Elizabethtown is vulnerable to severe tropical cyclones. During Hurricane Florence in September 2018, a weather station near Elizabethtown recorded of rainfall. This total broke the previous record for the highest amount of precipitation dropped by a single tropical cyclone in North Carolina history, which had stood since Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Two years prior, in October 2016, Hurricane Matthew also caused severe flash flooding and historic river cresting along the Cape Fear River.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Elizabethtown had a population of 3,296. The median age was 46.4 years. 18.6% of residents were under the age of 18, and 26.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 81.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.7 males age 18 and over.

0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,434 households in Elizabethtown, of which 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 29.7% were married-couple households, 20.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 45.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 40.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. 750 families were residing in the town.

  • Desmond Bryant (born 1985) – former NFL player
  • J. Bayard Clark (1882–1959) – U.S. Congressman
  • Chris Cole (born 1996) – professional soccer player
  • Homer L. Lyon (1879–1956) – U.S. Congressman
  • Emerson Martin (born 1970) – professional American football player and coach
  • William McBryar (1861–1941) – Buffalo soldier, Medal of Honor recipient
  • James Iver McKay (1792–1853) – U.S. Congressman
  • Larrell Murchison (born 1997) – defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams
  • Edd Nye (1932–2025) – long-serving member of the North Carolina General Assembly
  • Kevin Richardson (born 1986) – former college football player for Appalachian State University
  • William Saltar (1732–1802) – Revolutionary War politician, delegate to the North Carolina Provincial Congress, original founder and trustee of Elizabethtown.

References

  • Town of Elizabethtown official website
  • Bladen Journal, Google news archive. <small>—PDFs of 2,696 issues, dating from 1929 to 1985.</small>