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North Carolina County
Currituck County, North Carolina
Corolla wild horses and Currituck Outer Banks - from the Corolla wild horses (the famous Colonial Spanish Mustangs roaming the northern Currituck Outer Banks are descendants of horses brought by Spanish explorers in the 1500s, and the herd of about 100 horses living freely on the barrier island beaches and dunes is one of the most beloved wildlife attractions on the entire East Coast) to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (the 1875 redbrick lighthouse at Corolla is one of the tallest brick lighthouses in the United States and a landmark of the northern Outer Banks, surrounded by the maritime forest and sound-side marshes that define Currituck County's barrier island character).
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Services: Coordinates disaster preparedness, hurricane evacuation planning, and re-entry permitting for the Currituck Outer Banks; issues Business Re-Entry Permits; maintains CurrituckAlert text-based emergency notification (text zip code to 888-777)
Notes: Currituck County does NOT offer pre-hurricane shelters – evacuation to higher inland ground is required; the county coordinates with NC Emergency Management partners to establish a host county for evacuees.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-158 and NC-12 serve the county, spanning both a rural mainland and the Currituck Outer Banks (Corolla, Carova)
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent, with 4×4 beach access required to reach the northernmost Outer Banks communities – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Services: Enforces state/local building, plumbing, electrical, heating, and safety codes; issues CAMA (Coastal Area Management Act) permits; Citizen Self Service portal available for online permit applications, inspection results, and fee payment
Related: A limited-services Corolla office exists but callers are directed to the Mainland office for most matters.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Currituck County Veterans Services Office – Currituck, NC
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Currituck County Public Library – part of the East Albemarle Regional Library System, 3 branches
Main Branch: Barco Library – 4261 Caratoke Highway, Barco, NC 27917 | (252) 453-8345 | Fax: (252) 453-8717 | Hours: Mon–Fri 9 AM–6 PM, Sat 8:30 AM–12:30 PM (closed Saturdays Independence Day through Labor Day)
Services: Homebound delivery service available to residents confined by age, illness, or disability (up to 10 items monthly).
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Currituck County is genuinely and famously home to the WILD HORSES OF COROLLA, a free-roaming herd of Colonial Spanish Mustangs believed to be descendants of horses brought to the Americas by Spanish explorers roughly 400-500 years ago; among the earliest documented Spanish visitors to the North Carolina coast was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, a nobleman and conquistador who attempted, unsuccessfully, to establish a Spanish colony along the eastern seaboard in 1526 under a royal charter; historians and horse experts still debate exactly how the mustangs came to roam the Outer Banks – competing theories point to shipwrecked Spanish vessels, horses deliberately left ashore, or animals traded to local Native American tribes – but modern DNA testing has conclusively confirmed the herd’s genuine Colonial Spanish bloodline, and the horses today display distinctive physical traits of that heritage, including shorter backs with fewer vertebrae than most modern breeds; the horses have survived largely undisturbed on the remote northern Currituck Banks for roughly four centuries, but as development boomed in Corolla during the 1980s and 1990s, their numbers plummeted to as few as 40 animals due to inbreeding, vehicle strikes, and consumption of unsuitable non-native vegetation; conservationists relocated the herd north beyond the paved roads to the Carova Beach area in the mid-1990s, where the population has since recovered to roughly 100 horses roaming across more than 7,500 protected acres; thanks to legislation championed by elementary school students from Shawboro, right here in Currituck County, the Corolla Wild Horses were officially designated the North Carolina State Horse; a beloved piece of local folklore also ties directly to the breed – during the Revolutionary War, a teenage girl named Betsy Dowdy reportedly rode her own “Banker Pony,” a mare named Black Bess, an extraordinary 51 miles overnight from the Currituck Banks to Hertford, NC, to warn Patriot forces of approaching British troops, a ride still celebrated locally as embodying the same hardiness and spirit as the horses themselves; today the nonprofit Corolla Wild Horse Fund, headquartered in the historic Corolla schoolhouse, manages and protects the herd, requiring visitors to maintain a state-mandated 50-yard distance and never feed the animals
Notes: The Corolla Wild Horses’ genuine, DNA-confirmed Colonial Spanish Mustang heritage – now officially the North Carolina State Horse thanks to local schoolchildren’s advocacy – is one of the most distinctive living heritage assets found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Currituck County GIS – accessible via currituckcountync.gov
Parcel Search: Currituck County Tax Office
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Currituck County Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Currituck County Animal Services & Control – 140 Aviation Parkway, Barco, NC 27917 | (252) 453-8682 | Fax: (252) 457-0087 | Hours: Shelter operations Mon–Sun 8 AM–5 PM, Open to public Tue–Sun 12–4 PM (closed to public Mondays)
Services: Operates the county shelter and provides adoption, foster, and Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) services; lists adoptable animals via 24PetConnect; a countywide leash law applies to dogs (hunting dogs exempted while actively hunting/training); dog licenses are NOT required, but rabies tags must be worn at all times
Notes: The shelter accepts only cash or checks – credit cards are NOT accepted.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) – deq.nc.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Currituck County is genuinely home to the Wild Horses of Corolla, DNA-confirmed Colonial Spanish Mustangs and the official North Carolina State Horse, roaming the remote northern Outer Banks. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Currituck County
Currituck County is North Carolina’s wild horse and northern Outer Banks county – the Colonial Spanish Mustangs roaming the Corolla beach and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse anchor a barrier island and sound county whose growing vacation home and resort economy stretches from the Virginia border south along one of the East Coast’s most scenic coastal landscapes.
Currituck (the county seat, population ~500) is a tiny governmental hub while Corolla and the northern Outer Banks communities drive the county’s tourism and vacation property economy.
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Currituck County Assessor at 153 Courthouse Road, Currituck, NC 27929, phone 252-232-3000. NC assessed at 100% market value.
Courts & Legal
Currituck County Superior Court at 153 Courthouse Road, Currituck, NC 27929, phone 252-232-3297, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF SUPERIOR COURT
153 Courthouse Rd, Currituck, NC 27929
(252) 232-2075
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Currituck County Clerk of Superior Court, Currituck (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Currituck County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Currituck County Clerk of Superior Court – Estates Division 2801 Caratoke Highway, Currituck, NC 27929 (252) 232-6200 Currituck County is in North Carolina’s northeastern Outer Banks region, seated in Currituck.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
North Carolina has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code. Probate is handled by the Clerk of Superior Court – an elected official who serves as the ex officio judge of probate – in the county where the decedent was domiciled, under Chapter 28A of the North Carolina General Statutes. Unlike most states, North Carolina does not have a separate probate court; the Clerk’s Estates Division handles all wills, estates, and guardianship matters.
Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of Decedent (“collection by affidavit,” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-25-1 and § 28A-25-1.1) – available when the decedent’s personal property, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $20,000, or $30,000 if the surviving spouse is the sole heir and receives all property covered by the statute. Filed at least 30 days after death, using Form AOC-E-203B. Real property CANNOT be transferred through this process. If the decedent left a will, the will must first be admitted to probate and a certified copy attached to the affidavit.
Summary Administration – an abbreviated procedure available only when the surviving spouse is the sole heir.
Full Estate Administration – required for larger or more complex estates; the personal representative (called “executor” if named in a will, “administrator” if intestate) is appointed by the Clerk and receives Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Step 2: filing for administration
File the will (if any) and a petition with the Clerk of Superior Court, Estates Division, in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
The Clerk appoints the personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors; North Carolina’s creditor claim period is typically at least three months from first publication.
The personal representative inventories the estate’s assets, pays debts and expenses, and distributes the remaining assets according to the will or North Carolina’s intestacy law, reporting back to the Clerk at key stages.
The estate is closed once a final accounting is filed and approved by the Clerk.
What it costs
Filing fees for full estate administration generally follow the statewide statutory schedule, which scales with the estate’s value.
North Carolina repealed its state estate tax in 2013. There is no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax – only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
154 Courthouse Rd, Currituck, NC 27929
(252) 232-2216
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
153 Courthouse Rd, Currituck, NC 27929
(252) 232-3005
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
106 Public Safety Blvd, Currituck, NC 27929
(252) 232-2273
Social Services
153 Courthouse Rd, Currituck, NC 27929
(252) 232-3083
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Currituck County Health Department – Currituck, NC
Services: Immunizations, WIC, environmental health, vital records
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Currituck
Population: 30,000
Established: 1668
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Currituck County residents.
