Pungo River

… rises in East Dismal Swamp, Washington County, and flows generally se, forming the Beaufort-Hyde county line into Pamlico River near its mouth. Appears as Machapounga River on the Comberford map, 1657, and as Machaponga on the Moseley map, 1733, and other maps until 1807, when it appears, apparently for the first time, as Pungo River on the William Tatham map. Named for the Machapunga Indians, whose name is said to have meant "bad dust" or "much dust."