Edgecombe County was formed by Anglo Europeans in 1741 from Bertie County. It was named for Richard Edgcumbe, a Member of English Parliament from 1701 to 1742 and a lord of the treasury. He became 1st Baron Richard Edgecombe in 1742.
In 1746, part of Edgecombe County became Granville County; in 1758, another portion became Halifax County; and in 1777, another portion became Nash County. In 1855, the formation of Wilson County from parts of Edgecombe County, Johnston County, Nash County, and Wayne County reduced Edgecombe to its present size, with a minor boundary adjustments. This area was historically home to the Tuscarora, a Native American tribe who were Iroquoian language speakers. Other Iroquoian peoples had historically been concentrated further north around the Great Lakes. The Tuscarora were the most numerous Indigenous people in the Rocky Mount area. They lived along the Roanoke, Neuse, Tar (Torhunta or Narhontes), and Pamlico rivers.
After the 18th-century wars of 1711–1713 (known as the Tuscarora War) against English colonists and their Indigenous allies, most of the surviving Tuscarora left North Carolina and migrated north to Pennsylvania and New York, over a period of 90 years. By 1722, the leaders declared the migration complete and the official tribe was based in the North. However, some descendants of the Tuscarora still live in parts of Edgecombe County.
Macclesfield
Macclesfield was started between 1900 and 1901 when the Tarboro, North Carolina businessman Henry Clark Bridgers founded The Macclesfield Company. The Macclesfield Company bought land surrounding the tracks of East Carolina Railway in what is now Macclesfield and built warehouses and other buildings in the area. While in the area, you can stop by It’s a Zoo Life (4313 NC Hwy 42), an animal park with both domesticated and exotic animals.
Crisp
Various family records indicate that farmers settled in this area by the late 18th century. The community became known as “Crisp” in 1896, when it acquired a post office. Before that time, the community had been referred to as “Eagles’ Store,” “Eagles’ Crossroads,” and other variations after the store run by the Eagles family, now five generations in the area. In 1896, the Eagle family had taken on a business partner, Sellus M. Crisp. On behalf of the community, they applied for a post office with the request that the community be named “Eagles,” as it was on the Eagles & Crisp Mercantile business stationery. The post office, noting that several towns throughout the state had the word “Eagles” in the name, suggested that the town be called “Crisp.” There was no disagreement, and the Post Office had a station in Eagles’ store until the early 1990s.
Tarboro
Tarboro was chartered by British colonists in 1760. Located in a bend of the Tar River, it was an important river port, the head of navigation on the Tar River just east of the fall line of the Piedmont. As early as the 1730s, a small community developed around this natural asset. With different businesses, a church, a jail, two warehouses, a courthouse, a few well-built private houses, together with a score of “plain and cheap” houses, made a bustling village by the late 1700s.
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, and 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 150 acres of their property to the Reverend James Moir, Lawrence Toole (a merchant), Captains Aquilla Sugg and Elisha Battle, and Benjamin Hart, Esq., for five shillings and one peppercorn. As commissioners, these men laid out a town with lots not exceeding 0.5 acres and streets not wider than 80 feet, with 12 lots and a 50-acre “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 Edgecombe County seat of Enfield fell within Halifax. So, 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.”
Recognized by the National Park Service in 1977, the 45-block Tarboro Historic District has more than 300 contributing structures, from residences to historic churches to original 19th-century storefronts along Tarboro’s Main Street. Initially the location for common grazing of livestock, community gatherings and military drills, the Town Common is the only remaining original common on the East Coast outside of Boston. Also within the historic district, at the cross of North Church Street and Albemarle Avenue, is the Tarboro-Edgecombe Farmers’ Market. The market operates on Tuesdays and Fridays from 7 am to 10 am, and Saturdays from 8 am to 11 am. A variety of events, including the Tarboro Common Arts Festival and the Blueberry Day, are celebrated in downtown.
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 24 feet 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 20 feet of floodwater for 10 days.
Noteable People: Janice Bryant Howroyd was the first African-American woman to build and own a billion dollar company.
Edgecombe County Veterans Military Museum
The Edgecombe County Veterans Military Museum (106 West Church Street) is free to peruse through and displays a large collection of area military memorabilia representing all military branches through the decades, including a 1947 military jeep, which is an ongoing fixture in local parades and special events. They also have one of North Carolina’s largest collections of framed military portraits. On the side of the Colonial Theater (next to the Veterans Museum), you’ll find a mural depicting all five branches of the military.
Edgecombe County was also home to three Tuskegee Airmen.
Next stop… Nash County!
Portable NC 