Pantego, North Carolina

Geography

Pantego is located at 35°35′9″N 76°39′35″W (35.585917, -76.659755).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 110.058570 people, 155 households, and 6 families residing in the town. The population density was 212.3 people per square mile (82.0/km²). There were 78 housing units at an average density of 97.4 per square mile (37.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 80.00% White, 17.65% African American, 1.76% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.76% of the population.

There were 65 households out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.6% were non-families. 23.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the town, the population was spread out with 25.9% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 22.4% from 25 to 44, 30.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 88.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $41,250, and the median income for a family was $41,750. Males had a median income of $28,750 versus $25,750 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,030. About 4.9% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.0% of those under the age of eighteen and 35.7% of those sixty five or over.

History

This town has had a lot of history to say, it used to hold a school named Pantego High School, and it had more history to tornadoes, one hit in 1991, and another hit in October 11, 2002, an EF-2 that was spawned by Hurricane Kyle (2002), and destroyed 2 houses and a farm, the most recent one, in April 7, 2014, was also an EF-2 It rolled along Pantego Creek, ran along one of its canals, Cuckold's Creek, and almost hit a railroad bridge and Highway 264, it took a turn, hit through a small marsh, and split a house in half, and threw a truck over 40 feet high and threw in a nearby field, the two occurred 5 feet from each other, the tornado then curved into a forest, destroying a Hardee's billboard, and rolled across the Cuckold's Creek, again, and it slid along a field, until it curved into 4 houses on one side of the road, turned, and hit a house across the street, and it hit another field, a man in a plane flew over the field it crossed, and he saw curved and grooves in the dirt, revealing "arcs" in the field suggesting it was a multiple-vortex tornado, and hit a 2-story house, taking the top floor right off the house, and leaving the bottom floor, and it continued until it hit a house in Ponzer, about 15 miles from Pantego, and leveled that house, and fortunately, no casualties, one man, Marc Van Essendelf, and his seven kids and wife, hid in a ditch, his wife was 8 months pregnant, about to give birth, and if they hadn't of left the home, they'd die, the house was splintered up and obliterated, and a near-miss with another tornado that hit Whichard's Beach and Washington, NC. It was the first EF-3 Tornado of the 2014 season, and it made a record, but it almost continued into Pantego.

The Pantego Academy was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.