Warrenton is a town in, and the county chair of, Warren County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 862 at the 2010 census. Warrenton, now served by U.S. routes 158 and 401, was founded in 1779. It became one of the wealthiest towns in the give leave to enter from 1840 to 1860, being a trading middle of an area of rich tobacco and cotton plantations. It has a large store of historic architecture buildings. More than 90 percent of its buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and its National Historic District encompasses approximately half its area.

Warrenton was founded at the time similar to Bute County was estranged to form Warren and Franklin counties. Named for Dr. Joseph Warren, a patriot and soldier who fell at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War, it was incorporated in 1779. William Christmas platted and surveyed the streets and lots, and public squares that year. He acknowledged one hundred lots of one-half acre each, convenient streets and squares, and a common Place for the use of the town.

The area was developed as tobacco and cotton plantations. Warrenton served as a regional center for trade and entertainment.

Many in advance and mid-19th century houses have been preserved. The planters chartered private academies to educate their children, one of the outdated being The Warrenton Male Academy, formed in 1788. A girls’ school was founded by Jacob Mordecai, a Sephardic Jew, whose son Moses became a prominent lawyer in Raleigh. Commercial and running structures in the town date to the late 19th century and to the front 1900s.