Elizabethtown is located in
Bladen County (of which it is the county seat) between
Fayetteville and
Wilmington along Hwy 87 on the banks of the
Cape Fear River near
Dublin,
Bladenboro, and Bladen Lakes State Forest. Elizabethtown was founded in March, 1773 and is the fiftieth oldest town in North Carolina. The population estimate for July 1, 1998 was 3,784, an increase of 80 since 1990.