Between 1791 and 1840, the Pasquotank River appeared in 35 runaway slave advertisements, indicating that enslaved people, described as freedom seekers, escaped aboard boats traveling north to free territory or south to the West Indies, confirming active Underground Railroad operations in the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County region of northeast North Carolina. These efforts involved a network of free and enslaved African Americans, many of them seamen, working with people of other races and occupations to arrange safe passage. The Pasquotank River was the first river in the country to receive an Underground Railroad Network designation on September 15, 2004.