1. Name and Address of Reporting Person
   BROWN, ROBERT W.
   418 BLUE JAY
   LATTA, SC 29565
   USA
2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year)
   01/15/2003
3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)
4. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
   FIRST BANCORP (FBNC)
5. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)
   (X) Director                   ( ) 10% Owner
   ( ) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below)
6. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
   (X) Form filed by One Reporting Person
   ( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person

TABLE I -- Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned

+------------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------------+
|1. Title of Security                      |2. Amount of          |3. Ownership    |4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership     |
|                                          |   Securities         |   Form:        |                                               |
|                                          |   Beneficially Owned |   Direct(D) or |                                               |
|                                          |                      |   Indirect(I)  |                                               |
+------------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------------+
                                                                           
Common Stock                                5372                   D





TABLE II -- Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned

+-----------------------+---------------------+---------------------------------+----------+-------------+-------------------------+
|1.Title of Derivative  |2.Date Exercisable   |3.Title and Amount of Securities |4.Conver- |5.Ownership  |6. Nature of Indirect    |
|  Security             |  and Expiration Date|  Underlying Derivative          | sion or  | Form of     |   Beneficial Ownership  |
|                       |  (Month/Day/Year)   |  Security                       | Exercise | Derivative  |                         |
|                       +----------+----------+-----------------------+---------+ Price of | Security:   |                         |
|                       | Date     | Expira-  |                       |Amount or| Deri-    | Direct(D) or|                         |
|                       | Exer-    | tion     |         Title         |Number of| vative   | Indirect(I) |                         |
|                       | cisable  | Date     |                       |Shares   | Security |             |                         |
+-----------------------+----------+----------+-----------------------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------------------+
                                                                                     
Stock Options (Right to  06/11/1996 06/11/2008 Common Stock            16000     $6.25      D
buy)
Stock Options (Right to  01/15/2003 01/15/2013 Common Stock            10000     $23.54     D
buy)

Explanation of Responses:


SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON
/s/ ROBERT W. BROWN

DATE
01/24/2003