A Walking Tour of Tarboro, North Carolina

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour is ready to explore when you are.

Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.

Tar may have been an important product to the settlers who began building here around 1730. Or the newcomers may have taken the name for their river from the Tuscarora word "Tau," meaning river of good health." At any rate when the tiny assemblage of houses tucked into a bend of the Tar River was created in 1760 and designated the county seat of Edgecombe County it was established as Tarborough. Joseph Howell sold 150 acres off his plantation to establish the town. The land was divided into building lots of a half-acre, a small graveyard and a large chunk of fifty acres for public use. The town at the head of navigation on the Tar River prospered enough in the coming years to merit a stop on George Washington.s Southern Tour in 1791.

For much of its early history Tarboro was a small town populated with one-man trades and small businesses. The main line of the new North Carolina railroads ran elsewhere but when spur lines began reaching Tarboro in the latter half of the 1800s, industries were established. There was a cotton mill and a bright leaf tobacco market began in 1891. Tarboro factories manufactured wood products and corn meal and processed peanuts.

In 1977 the Tarboro Historic District was created - a 45-block area peppered with beautifully preserved colonial, antebellum and Victorian homes and original 19th century storefronts. Our walking tour will pass many of the 300 qualifying structures and we will begin with the 15 acres remaining of that original Town Common...