Created in 1760, Tarboro is the ninth-oldest incorporated town in North Carolina. Situated on the
Tar River at the
fall line in the Piedmont, the town served the area as an important colonial river port. It was a thriving trade center until the Civil War. Scholars believe that the area around Tarboro was settled by 1733, but
Edward Moseley's map of that year indicates only
Tuscarora Native Americans, an Iroquoian-language speaking group. By 1750, the area was widely known as "Tawboro", a name attributed to
Taw, the Tuscaroran word for "river of health". "Tarrburg", as the town was called on maps of 1770–75, was chartered November 30, 1760, as "Tarborough" by the
General Assembly. In September of the same year, Joseph and Ester Howell deeded of their property to the Reverend James Moir, Lawrence Toole (a merchant), Captains Aquilla Sugg and Elisha Battle, and Benjamin Hart, Esquire, for five shillings and one peppercorn. As commissioners, these men laid out a town with lots not exceeding and streets not wider than , with 12 lots and a "common" set aside for public use. Lots were to be sold for two pounds, with the proceeds to be turned over to the Howells; however, full payment was not received for all of the 109 lots sold, and some were not sold for the 40 shillings price. After
Halifax County was separated from Edgecombe County in 1758–59, the original county seat of Enfield was within Halifax. Tarboro officially was designated as the county seat of Edgecombe in 1764. For four years the county government had met in Redman's Field. The
North Carolina State Legislature met here once in 1787 and again in 1987. President
George Washington is known to have slept in Tarboro during a visit on his 1791 Southern tour. He is noted to have said of the town that it was "as good a salute as could be given with one piece of artillery." According to the book,
Edgecombe County: Twelve North Carolina Counties in 1810–11, by Jeremiah Battle, the following is an 1810 account of the town: "Tarboro, the only town in the county, is handsomely situated on the south-west bank of
Tar River, just above the mouth of Hendrick's Creek, in lat. 35 deg. 45 min. It is forty-eight miles west by north from
Washington, thirty-six south of
Halifax, eighty-three northwest of
Newbern, and sixty-eight east of
Raleigh. It was laid off into lots in the year 1760. The streets are seventy-two feet wide, and cross each other at right angles, leaving squares of each. These squares being divided into lots of , makes every lot front or face two streets. "There are about fifty private houses in it; and generally from fifteen to twenty stores, a church, a jail, two warehouses, and a large Court House, which in the year 1785 was used for the sitting of the State Legislature. There are several good springs adjacent to the town, but for culinary purposes almost every person or family has a well; and some of these wells afford good water the greater part of the year. This place affords good encouragement to all industrious persons, particularly merchants of almost every description. Sixty or seventy merchants have had full employment here at one time. But such of them as have emigrated to this place have too soon found themselves in prosperous situations, and have betaken themselves to idleness and dissipation." Due to the development of cotton
plantations in the uplands, which were worked by
slave labor in the antebellum years, by the 1870s Halifax and Edgecombe counties were among several in northeast North Carolina with majority-black populations. Local plantations include
Adelphia Plantation. Before being
disfranchised by the passage in 1899 of a new state constitutions, black citizens elected four African Americans to the U.S. Congress from
North Carolina's 2nd congressional district in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. They also elected many blacks to local offices. Congressman
George Henry White, a successful attorney, lived in Tarboro. After passage of the disfranchising constitution, he left the state, stating it was impossible for a black to be a man there. He became a successful banker in
Washington, D.C., and
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. The federal
Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided for oversight and enforcement of the constitutional rights of African Americans to vote. They have since been able to participate again in political life in North Carolina.
Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd was a very powerful
Cape Verde-type hurricane that struck the east coast of the United States in 1999. It was the sixth
named storm, fourth
hurricane, and third major hurricane in the
1999 Atlantic hurricane season. With its approach, officials ordered the third largest evacuation in
US history (behind
Hurricane Gustav and
Hurricane Rita, respectively), and 2.6 million coastal residents of five states were ordered from their homes. The hurricane formed off the coast of
Africa and lasted from September 7 to 19, peaking in strength as a very strong Category 4 hurricane—just 2 mph short of the highest possible rating on the
Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. Flooding in Tarboro occurred mostly in areas around the
Tar River, which exceeded 500-year flood levels along its lower stretches; it crested above flood stage. The Tar River surrounds about half of Tarboro as both the North end and Southern ends of the city have developed along it. Flooding began upstream in
Rocky Mount, where up to 30% of the city was underwater for several days. In Tarboro, much of the downtown became flooded by several feet of water. Nearby, the town of
Princeville was largely destroyed when the waters of the Tar poured over the town's levee, covering the town with more than of floodwater for ten days. Part of the Tarboro and Princeville city limits are defined by the Tar River. ==Tarboro Historic District==