Murfreesboro, North Carolina

Murfreesboro is located in northwestern Hertford County on high ground south of the Meherrin River. U.S. Route 258 runs through the eastern end of the town, and U.S. Route 158 bypasses the town to the south. US-258 leads southwest to Tarboro and northeast to Franklin, Virginia, while US-158 leads east to Winton, the Hertford county seat, and west to Roanoke Rapids. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which are land and , or 2.27%, are water. Climate {{Weather box {{cite web ==Demographics==

2020 census As of the 2020 census, Murfreesboro had a population of 2,619. The median age was 30.5 years. 16.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.9 males age 18 and over. 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas. There were 938 households and 552 families in Murfreesboro, of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 35.9% were married-couple households, 18.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 40.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 39.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 1,069 housing units, of which 12.3% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.3%. ==History==

Before European settlement The first recorded inhabitants of the area were Native Americans from the Nottoway, Meherrin and Chowanoke tribes. The first European known to visit the area was John White of the Roanoke Colony in the 16th century. It was also visited by an expedition from Jamestown, Virginia, in the 17th century. Colonial era to the American Revolution The first known deed to property in the area is a land grant dated November 5, 1714, made to Henry Wheeler for a tract on the Meherrin River which included what is now Murfreesboro. Several other transactions quickly followed, and in 1735 Joseph Parker founded the Meherrin Church. It is the second-oldest Baptist church in North Carolina This act also provided for the establishment of a public dock, as the town was located at the northernmost point of navigation on the Meherrin River. In 1831 Murfreesboro was among towns that sent armed forces (these were led by Captain Solon Borland) to Southampton County, Virginia, to quell Nat Turner's slave rebellion. As a result of these events, Virginia and North Carolina reduced the rights of free blacks, prohibiting education of both free blacks and slaves. ==Education==

Riverview Elementary School and Hertford County Middle School, both of which are part of the Hertford County Public Schools system. Chowan University, a small Baptist university, is located in Murfreesboro. ==Commerce==

Murfreesboro is no longer an active port. The last commercial vessel to operate on a regular basis was a Texaco Oil barge; it ceased service to the town in October 1966. The town is served by the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald newspaper, which is based in nearby Ahoskie. ==Attractions==

Numerous buildings of the town, mostly grand houses, are on the National Register of Historic Places: the David A. Barnes House, The Cedars, The Columns, Cowper-Thompson House, Freeman House, Melrose, Myrick House, Myrick-Yeates-Vaughan House, Francis Parker House, William Rea Store, Roberts-Vaughan House, and John Wheeler House. In addition, Princeton Site and the Murfreesboro Historic District are listed on the NRHP. The John Wheeler House is identified as the birthplace of John Hill Wheeler, a planter and politician who served as Minister to Nicaragua and North Carolina State Treasurer. In 2013 it was established that Hannah Bond, a slave who escaped to the North and wrote ''The Bondwoman's Narrative'' under the name of Hannah Crafts, had been held by him as a domestic servant. She escaped around 1857 from his plantation and wrote her manuscript on paper traced to his library. It was found in the early 21st century, authenticated and published for the first time in 2002 as the first known novel by an African-American woman. The old Murfreesboro public school (which housed grades 1 – 12 until 1972) has been redeveloped as the Brady C. Jefcoat Museum. It houses the collections of Brady Jefcoat, a Raleigh native. It includes hundreds of well-preserved ordinary items from the late 19th and early 20th century, including functional phonographs, radios, washing machines, and agricultural implements, as well as a wide variety of other novelties. ==Notable people==

• William Hill Brown, author of the first American novel • Tim Cofield, former NFL and CFL linebacker • Sallie Southall Cotten, writer and clubwoman • Curtis Deloatch, former NFL cornerback • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an Al Qaeda leader, attended Chowan University in 1983 • Hardy Murfree, lieutenant colonel from North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War • Julian Myrick, insurance salesman and promoter of tennis • William N. H. Smith, Democratic congressman and North Carolina Supreme Court justice • Dwight Stephenson, former NFL center, 5x First Team All-Pro selection and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame • Fred Vinson, former NBA player and current coach • John H. Wheeler, first United States ambassador to Nicaragua and head of the United States Mint ==See also==