116-711: Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina , United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of the 2020 census , the town had a population of 10,721. It is the county seat of Edgecombe County. The town is on the opposite bank of the Tar River from Princeville . It is also part of the Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids CSA . Tarboro
232-416: A butter churn . Once firm enough to separate out, but soft enough to stick together, the butter was taken out of the churn, washed in very cold water, and salted. The churning process also produced buttermilk as a by-product. It was the remaining liquid after the butter was removed from the churn. All of the products of this process would have been stored in the spring house or ice house . The smokehouse
348-406: A courtyard to the rear of the main house known as the kitchen yard. They included a cookhouse (separate kitchen building), pantry , washhouse ( laundry ), smokehouse , chicken house , spring house or ice house , milkhouse ( dairy ), covered well , and cistern . The privies would have been located some distance away from the plantation house and kitchen yard. The cookhouse or kitchen
464-451: A primer , and a hornbook . As the children grew older their schooling began to prepare them for their adult roles on the plantation. Boys studied academic subjects, proper social etiquette , and plantation management, while girls learned art , music , French , and the domestic skills suited to the mistress of a plantation. Most plantation owners maintained an office for keeping records, transacting business, writing correspondence, and
580-556: A vacuum pan , where it was boiled until the sugar in the syrup was crystallized. The crystallized sugar was then cooled and separated from any remaining molasses in a process known as purging. The final step was packing the sugar into hogshead barrels for transport to market. Cotton plantations, the most common type of plantation in the South prior to the Civil War, were the last type of plantation to fully develop. Cotton production
696-412: A 1,449-acre site in Edgecombe County at Kingsboro Business Park, located between Rocky Mount and Tarboro. Phase 1 of the project is set to open in 2020 and phase 2 in 2022. At $ 580 million, it will be the largest ever manufacturing investment in rural North Carolina with the creation of 800 jobs and an estimated contribution of more than $ 2.4 billion to the state's economy. Corning has also constructed
812-530: A 50-acre (200,000 m) "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
928-516: A 6,000-foot (1,800 m) lighted precision approach runway, a 5,000-foot (1,500 m) lighted non-precision crosswind runway and a 2,700-foot (820 m) unlighted visual approach runway. PGV provides commuter service to Charlotte Douglas International Airport through US Airways Express with 11 daily flights. Jet service is available. All aircraft services are available, including charters. Rocky Mount-Wilson Airport : Located 25 miles (40 km) west of Tarboro, this airport has one runway which
1044-635: A building raised roughly a story off of the ground on posts, was used to separate the lighter chaff and dust from the rice. Sugar plantations were most commonly found in Louisiana. In fact, Louisiana produced almost all of the sugar grown in the United States during the prewar period. From one-quarter to one-half of all sugar consumed in the United States came from Louisiana sugar plantations. Plantations grew sugarcane from Louisiana's colonial era onward, but large scale production did not begin until
1160-541: 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. It was a thriving trade center until
1276-527: A corrugated wash board until clean. By the 1850s, they would have been passed through a mangle . Prior to that time, wringing out the items was done by hand. The items would then be ready to be hung out to dry or, in inclement weather, placed on a drying rack . Ironing would have been done with a metal flat iron , often heated in the fireplace, and various other devices. The milkhouse would have been used by enslaved people to make milk into cream , butter , and buttermilk . The process started with separating
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#17327721355031392-452: A flat surface of still lower land, with a silver thread of water curling through it, extended, Holland-like, to the horizon. Usually at as great a distance as a quarter of a mile from the road, and from a half mile to a mile apart, were the residences of the planters – large white houses, with groves of evergreen trees about them; and between these and the road were little villages of slave-cabins ... The cottages were framed buildings, boarded on
1508-580: A household in the county was $ 30,983, and the median income for a family was $ 35,902. Males had a median income of $ 27,300 versus $ 21,649 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 14,435. About 16.00% of families and 19.60% of the population were below the poverty line , including 27.50% of those under age 18 and 18.40% of those age 65 or over. Edgecombe County is a member of the regional Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments . The North Carolina Department of Corrections previously operated
1624-715: 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
1740-548: A more accurate image of what life was like for slaves and slave owners", The Washington Post wrote in 2019. Hannah Knowles in The Washington Post wrote, "The changes have begun to draw people long alienated by the sites' whitewashing of the past and to satisfy what staff call a hunger for real history, as plantations add slavery-focused tours, rebuild cabins and reconstruct the lives of the enslaved with help from their descendants." However, some white visitors to
1856-500: A new $ 86 million distribution center that will bring 111 new jobs, they will be operational in the first quarter 2020. Below is a list of some of the largest employers in Tarboro as of 2019. Edgecombe County Public Schools ' headquarters are located in Tarboro, and the schools serve all cities and towns of the county. ECPS operates a total of 15 public schools : 6 elementary schools , 4 middle schools , and 5 high schools . Tarboro
1972-460: A place for the hired tutor or governess to educate the planter's children, and sometimes even those of other planters in the area. On most plantations, however, a room in the main house was sufficient for schooling, rather than a separate dedicated building. Paper was precious, so the children often recited their lessons until they memorized them. The usual texts in the beginning were the Bible ,
2088-497: A plantation from a farm . Typically, the focus of a farm was subsistence agriculture . In contrast, the primary focus of a plantation was the production of cash crops , with enough staple food crops produced to feed the population of the estate and the livestock. A common definition of what constituted a plantation is that it typically had 500 to 1,000 acres (2.0 to 4.0 km ) or more of land and produced one or two cash crops for sale. Other scholars have attempted to define it by
2204-476: A separate campus in nearby Rocky Mount . The town of Tarboro has a council-manager form of government. The town is divided into eight wards with a total of eight council members that serve members of the town's council are elected from the town's eight wards for four-year staggered terms . The mayor serves a four-year term. As of 2019, the town manager is Troy R. Lewis. Interstate 95 and U.S. 64 were constructed near Tarboro, allowing for access to and from
2320-408: A strainer to be collected into a tank. From there the juice went through a process that removed impurities from the liquid and thickened it through evaporation. It was steam-heated in vats where additional impurities were removed by adding lime to the syrup and then the mixture was strained. At this point the liquid had been transformed into molasses . It was then placed into a closed vessel known as
2436-550: A visit to plantations along the Georgia coast in 1855: In the afternoon, I left the main road, and, towards night, reached a much more cultivated district. The forest of pines extended uninterruptedly on one side of the way, but on the other was a continued succession of very large fields, or rich dark soil – evidently reclaimed swamp-land – which had been cultivated the previous year, in Sea Island cotton, or maize. Beyond them,
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#17327721355032552-534: Is home to seven of the public schools: Stocks Elementary, Princeville Elementary, Pattillo Middle School, Martin Millennium Academy, Edgecombe Early College High School, North Edgecombe High School and Tarboro High School. There is one public charter school in Tarboro, North East Carolina Prep School. Higher education is provided by Edgecombe Community College . ECC offers more than 130 academic degrees, diplomas, and certificates. Edgecombe also operates
2668-606: Is lighted and extends a length of 7,100 feet (2,200 m). Raleigh–Durham International Airport : More commonly known as RDU, this major international airport serves the U.S. and abroad. Located 87 miles (140 km) west of Tarboro, RDU hosts numerous major carriers with daily departures. Additionally, numerous commuter carriers connect RDU to the northeast and other southern cities. Tarboro has access to both freight and passenger rail service. Amtrak provides two north and two southbound trains per day at its Rocky Mount station , located 17 miles (27 km) west of Tarboro. Service
2784-564: Is located near the western edge of North Carolina's coastal plain . It has many historical churches, some dating from as early as 1742. 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,
2900-529: Is now ECU Health . More than 20 specialties are represented by ECU Health Edgecombe Hospital's medical staff. In addition to acute care, services include rehabilitation, oncology and outpatient clinics. The Tarboro Weekly and Tar River Times serves as the main daily newspapers for the town of Tarboro and surrounding areas. The Daily Southerner was the main daily newspaper for the town of Tarboro and Edgecombe County from 1826 until it ceased publication on May 30, 2014. The Rocky Mount Telegram also serves
3016-825: Is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation 's Main Street Program. 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. Additional buildings are listed on
3132-497: Is to Washington, D.C. , New York City , Miami and Philadelphia . Freight service is provided by CSX . Trains travel to destinations in eastern North Carolina and also to points west and south of town. ECU Health Edgecombe Hospital is a full-service, 117-bed acute care facility where residents of Tarboro, Edgecombe County and surrounding communities receive a wide range of health services close to home. In 1998, Heritage joined University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina which
3248-502: Is unknown. In 1746 part of Edgecombe County became Granville County ; in 1758 another portion became Halifax County ; and in 1777 yet another part became Nash County . In 1855, parts of Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston , and Wayne counties were combined to form Wilson County . In 1871, after significant political controversy, all parts of Edgecombe County west of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad were annexed to Nash leading to
3364-493: Is water. As of the 2020 census , there were 48,900 people, 21,151 households, and 14,408 families residing in the county. At the 2010 census , there were 56,552 people living in the county. 57.4% were Black or African American , 38.8% White , 0.3% Native American , 0.2% Asian , 2.3% of some other race and 1.0% of two or more races . 3.7% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). At the 2000 census , there were 55,606 people, 20,392 households, and 14,804 families living in
3480-546: The American Civil War . The mild temperate climate , plentiful rainfall, and fertile soils of the Southeastern United States allowed the flourishing of large plantations, where large numbers of enslaved Africans were held captive and forced to produce crops to create wealth for a white elite . Today, as was also true in the past, there is a wide range of opinion as to what differentiated
3596-662: The East Coast outside of Boston . Within the historic district is the Blount-Bridgers House , an 1808 Federal-style mansion that is operated as a museum: it holds several important document collections and works by Hobson Pittman, a nationally recognized artist and Tarboro native. Opened to the public in 1982, the Blount-Bridgers House serves as the town's art and civic center. A self-guided Historic District National Recreation Trail, beginning at
Tarboro, North Carolina - Misplaced Pages Continue
3712-555: The Episcopal denomination. Early records indicate that at Faunsdale Plantation the mistress of the estate, Louisa Harrison, gave regular instruction to her slaves by reading the services of the church and teaching the Episcopal catechism to their children. Following the death of her first husband, she had a large Carpenter Gothic church built, St. Michael's Church. She latter remarried to Rev. William A. Stickney, who served as
3828-723: The Fountain Correctional Center for Women in an unincorporated area in the county, near Rocky Mount . It closed in December 2014. Edgecombe County's unemployment has been declining from a peak of 17.1 percent in February 2010. In June 2024 the county had an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. Edgecombe County Public Schools has 14 schools ranging from pre-kindergarten to thirteenth grade . These are separated into four high schools , four middle schools , five elementary schools , and one K–8 school. It
3944-536: The National Register of Historic Places : The Barracks , Batts House and Outbuildings , Calvary Episcopal Church and Churchyard , Coats House , Coolmore Plantation , Cotton Press , Eastern Star Baptist Church , Edgecombe Agricultural Works , Howell Homeplace , Lone Pine , Oakland Plantation , Piney Prospect , Quigless Clinic , Railroad Depot Complex , Redmond-Shackelford House , St. Paul Baptist Church , and Walston-Bulluck House . According to
4060-745: The Rocky Mount, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area . 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
4176-558: The South Carolina Lowcountry . Until the 19th century, rice was threshed from the stalks and the husk was pounded from the grain by hand, a very labor-intensive endeavor. Steam-powered rice pounding mills had become common by the 1830s. They were used to thresh the grain from the inedible chaff . A separate chimney, required for the fires powering the steam engine, was adjacent to the pounding mill and often connected by an underground system. The winnowing barn ,
4292-560: The Southern United States from the 17th into the 20th century. The complex included everything from the main residence down to the pens for livestock . Until the abolition of slavery , such plantations were generally self-sufficient settlements that relied on the forced labor of enslaved people. Plantations are an important aspect of the history of the Southern United States , particularly before
4408-494: The Tar River , which exceeded 500-year flood levels along its lower stretches; it crested 24 ft (7.3 m) 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,
4524-515: The United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 11.2 square miles (28.9 km), of which 11.1 square miles (28.8 km) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km), or 0.33%, is water. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 10,721 people, 4,635 households, and 2,848 families residing in the town. As of the census of 2010, there were 11,415 people, 4,565 households, and 2,958 families residing in
4640-537: The "great house" and extended family. Novels, often adapted into films , presented a romantic , sanitized view of plantation life and ignored or glorified white supremacy . The most popular of these were The Birth of a Nation (1916), based on Thomas Dixon Jr. ,'s best-selling novel The Clansman (1905), and Gone with the Wind (1939), based on the best-selling novel of the same name (1936) by Margaret Mitchell . On larger plantations an overseer represented
4756-401: The 1810s and 1820s. A successful sugar plantation required a skilled retinue of hired labor and enslaved people. The most specialized structure on a sugar plantation was the sugar mill (sugar house), where, by the 1830s, the steam-powered mill crushed the sugarcane stalks between rollers. This squeezed the juice from the stalks and the cane juice would run out the bottom of the mill through
Tarboro, North Carolina - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-545: 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. On May 16, 1732, Royal Governor of the Province of North Carolina George Burrington , in response to a petition and with the consent of his council, authorized for
4988-576: The Blount-Bridgers House, leads visitors through the scenic older neighborhoods of the town. The district includes five 18th-century homes, with the oldest being the Archibald White house (ca. 1785) located on the corner of Church and Trade streets. The district has more than two dozen antebellum homes built from 1800 to 1860. The largest section is late 19th-and early 20th-century and includes Victorian, Second Empire, Neo-classical revival, and Arts and Crafts-style homes. The town's walkable downtown
5104-494: 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
5220-690: The Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom , suggests that the minimum requirement for planter status was twenty people enslaved, especially since a Southern planter could exempt Confederate duty for one white male per twenty people owned. In his study of Black Belt counties in Alabama, Jonathan Weiner defines planters by ownership of real property, rather than of slaves. A planter, for Weiner, owned at least $ 10,000 worth of real estate in 1850 and $ 32,000 worth in 1860, equivalent to about
5336-590: The East Coast's major markets, many of which are within one day's drive. The city is 72 miles (116 km) east of Raleigh , the state capital ; 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Greenville , a primary eastern North Carolina hub; 16 miles (26 km) east of Rocky Mount ; and 120 miles (190 km) west of the Outer Banks . Tarboro is convenient to area and regional airports, freight and passenger train service, interstate and intrastate highway systems, and
5452-634: The Episcopal minister of St. Michael's and was later appointed by Bishop Richard Wilmer as a "Missionary to the Negroes," after which Louisa joined him as an unofficial fellow minister among the African Americans of the Black Belt . Most plantation churches were of wood-frame construction, although some were built in brick, often stuccoed . Early examples tended towards the vernacular or neoclassicism, but later examples were almost always in
5568-640: The General Assembly. In September of the same year, Joseph and Ester Howell deeded 150 acres (610,000 m) 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 0.5 acres (2,000 m) and streets not wider than 80 feet (24 m), with 12 lots and
5684-987: The Gothic Revival style. A few rivaled those built by southern town congregations. Two of the most elaborate extant examples in the Deep South are the Chapel of the Cross at Annandale Plantation and St. Mary's Chapel at Laurel Hill Plantation , both Episcopalian structures in Mississippi. In both cases the original plantation houses have been destroyed, but the quality and design of the churches can give some insight into how elaborate some plantation complexes and their buildings could be. St. Mary Chapel, in Natchez, dates to 1839, built in stuccoed brick with large Gothic and Tudor arch windows, hood mouldings over
5800-631: The Tarboro Historic District is the Tarboro Town Common , a 15-acre (61,000 m) park that has a canopy of tall oaks. War memorials are installed here. The Town Common originally surrounded the town and is the second-oldest legislated town common in the country. Initially the location for common grazing of livestock, community gatherings and military drills, the Town Common is the only remaining original common on
5916-595: 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
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#17327721355036032-400: The age of 18 living with them, 38.5% were headed by married couples living together, 22.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.2% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.1% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35, and the average family size was 2.94. In the town, the population
6148-618: The bale was secured with twine. An individual who owned a plantation was known as a planter . Historians of the prewar South have generally defined "planter" most precisely as a person owning property (real estate) and keeping 20 or more people enslaved . In the " Black Belt " counties of Alabama and Mississippi , the terms "planter" and "farmer" were often synonymous. The historians Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman define large planters as those who enslaved over 50 people, and medium planters as those who enslaved between 16 and 50 people. Historian David Williams, in A People's History of
6264-473: The bifurcation of the Edgecombe communities of Battleboro and Sharpsburg between the two counties. In 1883, the county was reduced to its present dimensions when part of it was annexed to Wilson. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 506.87 square miles (1,312.8 km ), of which 505.44 square miles (1,309.1 km ) is land and 1.43 square miles (3.7 km ) (0.28%)
6380-470: 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
6496-450: The centuries. With the collapse of the plantation economy and subsequent Southern transition from a largely agrarian to an industrial society , plantations and their building complexes became obsolete. Although the majority have been destroyed, the most common structures to have survived are the plantation houses . As is true of buildings in general, the more substantially built and architecturally interesting buildings have tended to be
6612-420: The constitutional rights of African Americans to vote. They have since been able to participate again in political life in North Carolina. 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
6728-417: The cookhouse or a storehouse and would have secured items such as barrels of salt , sugar , flour , cornmeal and the like. The washhouse is where clothes, tablecloths, and bed-covers were cleaned and ironed. It also sometimes had living quarters for the laundrywoman . Cleaning laundry in this period was labor-intensive for the domestic slaves that performed it. It required various gadgets to accomplish
6844-417: The county. The population density was 110 people per square mile (42 people/km ). There were 24,002 housing units at an average density of 48 units per square mile (19 units/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 57.46% Black or African American , 40.06% White , 0.20% Native American , 0.13% Asian , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 1.56% from other races , and 0.58% from two or more races. 2.79% of
6960-463: The crop. Tobacco plantations were most common in certain parts of Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Virginia. The first agricultural plantations in Virginia were founded on the growing of tobacco. Tobacco production on plantations was very labor-intensive. It required the entire year to gather seeds, start them growing in cold frames , and then transplant
7076-441: The deepwater ports of Morehead City and Wilmington, North Carolina . Tarboro-Edgecombe Airport: This facility, located 3 miles (5 km) north of downtown, has a 4,500-foot (1,400 m) paved and lighted runway with a 1,000-foot (300 m) approach apron from both ends, accommodating a wide variety of small general aviation aircraft. Pitt–Greenville Airport : Located 25 miles (40 km) south of Tarboro, this airport has
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#17327721355037192-419: 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
7308-521: The doors and windows, buttresses , a crenelated roof-line, and a small Gothic spire crowning the whole. Although construction records are very sketchy, the Chapel of the Cross, built from 1850 to 1852 near Madison, may be attributable to Frank Wills or Richard Upjohn , both of whom designed almost identical churches in the North during the same time period that the Chapel of the Cross was built. Another secondary structure on many plantations during
7424-428: The fields. A few enslavers went further in providing housing for the household servants. When Waldwic in Alabama was remodeled in the Gothic Revival style in the 1852, the enslaved people serving the household were provided with larger accommodations that matched the architecture of the main house. This model, however, was exceedingly rare. Famous landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted had this recollection of
7540-403: The financial panics of 1819 and 1837, when demand by British mills for cotton dropped, many small planters went bankrupt and their land and slaves were bought by larger plantations. As cotton-producing estates grew in size, so did the number of slaveholders and the average number of enslaved people held. A cotton plantation normally had a cotton gin house, where the cotton gin was used to remove
7656-719: The food staples and equipment that they relied on for their existence. This type of debt bondage , for blacks and poor whites, led to a populist movement in the late 19th century that began to bring blacks and whites together for a common cause. This early populist movement is largely credited with helping to cause state governments in the South, mostly controlled by the planter elite, to enact various laws that disenfranchised poor whites and blacks, through grandfather clauses , literacy tests , poll taxes , and various other laws. The agricultural structures on plantations had some basic structures in common and others that varied widely. They depended on what crops and animals were raised on
7772-427: The form of monumental towers set near the main house. The pigeons were raised to be eaten as a delicacy and their droppings were used as fertilizer. Few functions could take place on a plantation without a reliable water supply. Every plantation had at least one, and sometimes several, wells . These were usually roofed and often partially enclosed by latticework to exclude animals. Since the well water in many areas
7888-503: The former Hermitage Plantation in Georgia and Boone Hall in South Carolina, even those who worked in the fields were provided with brick cabins. More fortunate in their accommodations were those who served in the enslavers' houses or were skilled laborers. They usually resided either in a part of the main house or in their own houses, which were normally more comfortable dwellings than those of their counterparts who worked in
8004-455: The height of the sharecropping -era was the plantation store or commissary. Although some prewar plantations had a commissary that distributed food and supplies to enslaved people, the plantation store was essentially a postwar addition to the plantation complex. In addition to the share of their crop already owed to the plantation owner for the use of his or her land, tenants and sharecroppers purchased, usually on credit against their next crop,
8120-498: The like. Although it, like the schoolroom, was most often within the main house or another structure, it was not at all rare for a complex to have a separate plantation office. John C. Calhoun used his plantation office at his Fort Hill plantation in Clemson, South Carolina as a private sanctuary of sorts, with it utilized as both study and library during his twenty-five year residency. Another structure found on some estates
8236-399: The main house, at least partially due to his social position. It was also part of an effort to keep the enslaved people compliant and prevent the beginnings of a slave rebellion, a very real fear in the minds of most plantation owners. Economic studies indicate that fewer than 30 percent of planters employed white supervisors for their slave labor. Some planters appointed a trusted slave as
8352-621: The main house, well away from it, or both. On large plantations they were often arranged in a village-like grouping along an avenue away from the main house, but sometimes were scattered around the plantation on the edges of the fields where the enslaved people toiled, like most of the sharecropper cabins that were to come later. Houses for enslaved people were often of the most basic construction. Meant for little more than sleeping, they were usually rough log or frame one-room cabins; early examples often had chimneys made of clay and sticks. Hall and parlor houses (two rooms) were also represented on
8468-442: The meat could also be stored there until it was consumed. The chicken house was a building where chickens were kept. Its design could vary, depending on whether the chickens were kept for egg production, meat, or both. If for eggs, there were often nest boxes for egg laying and perches on which the birds to sleep. Eggs were collected daily. Some plantations also had pigeonniers ( dovecotes ) that, in Louisiana, sometimes took
8584-473: The median income for a family was $ 46,884. Male full-time workers had a median income of $ 32,776, versus $ 35,013 for females. The per capita income for the town was $ 20,085. 16.0% of the population and 12.0% of families were below the poverty line . Out of the total population, 28.9% of those under the age of 18 and 11.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Chinese tiremaker Triangle Group will be building two manufacturing facilities at
8700-417: The milk into skim milk and cream. It was done by pouring the whole milk into a container and allowing the cream to naturally rise to the top. This was collected into another container daily until several gallons had accumulated. During this time the cream would sour slightly through naturally occurring bacteria. This increased the efficiency of the churning to come. Churning was an arduous task performed with
8816-728: The museum houses presented an idyllic, dignified " lost cause " vision of the antebellum South . Recently, and to different degrees, some have begun to acknowledge the "horrors of slavery" which made that life possible. In late 2019, after contact initiated by Color of Change , "five major websites often used for wedding planning have pledged to cut back on promoting and romanticizing weddings at former slave plantations". The New York Times , earlier in 2019, "decided...to exclude couples who were being married on plantations from wedding announcements and other wedding coverage". "Many plantations, including George Washington 's Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson 's Monticello , are working to present
8932-408: The number of enslaved persons. The vast majority of plantations did not have grand mansions centered on a huge acreage. These large estates did exist, but represented only a small percentage of the plantations that once existed in the South. Although many Southern farmers did enslave people before emancipation in 1862, few enslaved more than five. These farmers tended to work the fields alongside
9048-406: The ones that survived into the modern age and are better documented than many of the smaller and simpler ones. Several plantation homes of important persons, including Mount Vernon , Monticello , and The Hermitage have also been preserved. Less common are intact examples of slave housing. The rarest survivors of all are the agricultural and lesser domestic structures, especially those dating from
9164-405: The outside, with shingle roofs and brick chimneys; they stood fifty feet apart, with gardens and pig-yards ... At the head of the settlement, in a garden looking down the street, was an overseer's house, and here the road divided, running each way at right angles; on one side to barns and a landing on the river, on the other toward the mansion ... A crucial residential structure on larger plantations
9280-504: The overseer, and in Louisiana free black overseers were also used. Another residential structure largely unique to plantation complexes was the garconnière or bachelors' quarters. Mostly built by Louisiana Creole people , but occasionally found in other parts of the Deep South formerly under the dominion of New France , they were structures that housed the adolescent or unmarried sons of plantation owners. At some plantations it
9396-553: The people they enslaved. Of the estimated 46,200 plantations existing in 1860, 20,700 had 20 to 30 enslaved people and 2,300 had a workforce of a hundred or more, with the rest somewhere in between. Many plantations were operated by absentee-landowners and never had a main house on site. Just as vital and arguably more important to the complex were the many structures built for the processing and storage of crops, food preparation and storage, sheltering equipment and animals, and various other domestic and agricultural purposes. The value of
9512-405: The plantation came from its land and the enslaved people who toiled on it to produce crops for sale. These same people produced the built environment: the main house for the plantation owner, the slave cabins , barns, and other structures of the complex. The materials for a plantation's buildings, for the most part, came from the lands of the estate. Lumber was obtained from the forested areas of
9628-406: The plantation landscape, offering a separate room for eating and sleeping. Sometimes dormitories and two-story dwellings were also used to house enslaved people. Earlier examples rested on the ground with a dirt floor, but later examples were usually raised on piers for ventilation. Most of these represent the dwellings constructed for enslaved people who worked in the fields. Rarely though, such as at
9744-732: The plantation, used to house both horses and mules . These were usually separate, one for each type of animal. The mule stable was the most important on the vast majority of estates, since the mules did most of the work, pulling the plows and carts . Barns not involved in animal husbandry were most commonly the crib barn ( corn cribs or other types of granaries ), storage barns, or processing barns. Crib barns were typically built of unchinked logs , although they were sometimes covered with vertical wood siding. Storage barns often housed unprocessed crops or those awaiting consumption or transport to market. Processing barns were specialized structures that were necessary for helping to actually process
9860-599: The plantation. Common crops included corn , upland cotton , sea island cotton , rice , sugarcane , and tobacco . Besides those mentioned earlier, cattle , ducks , goats , hogs , and sheep were raised for their derived products and/or meat. All estates would have possessed various types of animal pens, stables , and a variety of barns . Many plantations utilized a number of specialized structures that were crop-specific and only found on that type of plantation. Plantation barns can be classified by function , depending on what type of crop and livestock were raised. In
9976-602: The planter in matters of daily management. Usually perceived as uncouth, ill-educated, and low-class, he had the often despised task of meting out punishments in order to keep up discipline and secure the profit of his employer. Southern plantations depended upon slaves to do the agricultural work. "Honestly, 'plantation' and 'slavery' is one and the same," said an employee of the Whitney Plantation in 2019. Many manor houses survive, and in some cases former slave dwellings have been rebuilt or renovated. To pay for
10092-427: The plants to the fields once the soil had warmed. Then the enslaved people had to weed the fields all summer and remove the flowers from the tobacco plants in order to force more energy into the leaves. Harvesting was done by plucking individual leaves over several weeks as they ripened, or cutting entire tobacco plants and hanging them in vented tobacco barns to dry, called curing . Rice plantations were common in
10208-443: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 20,392 households, out of which 32.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.20% were married couples living together, 21.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.40% were non-families. 24.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size
10324-737: The postwar South. For example, James Battle Avirett , who grew up on the Avirett-Stephens Plantation in Onslow County, North Carolina , and served as an Episcopal chaplain in the Confederate States Army , published The Old Plantation: How We Lived in Great House and Cabin before the War in 1901. Such memoirs often included descriptions of Christmas as the epitome of anti-modern order exemplified by
10440-406: The pre-Civil War era. Housing for enslaved people, although once one of the most common and distinctive features of the plantation landscape, has largely disappeared in much of the South. Many of the structures were insubstantial to begin with. Only the better-built examples tended to survive, and then usually only if they were put to other uses after emancipation. The quarters could be next to
10556-447: The property. Depending on its intended use, it was either split, hewn , or sawn. Bricks were most often produced onsite from sand and clay that was molded , dried, and then fired in a kiln . If a suitable stone was available, it was used. Tabby was often used on the southern Sea Islands . Few plantation structures have survived into the modern era, with the vast majority destroyed through natural disaster , neglect, or fire over
10672-499: The representation of an Edgecombe Precinct in the North Carolina Carolina Assembly, named in honor of British politician Richard Edgcumbe . This decision was vetoed by the assembly and subsequently debated for several years. In 1741, the assembly acceded to the creation of the precinct. Why the eventual county's name is spelled differently than the honoree's name or when this discrepancy came into practice
10788-444: The seeds from raw cotton. After ginning, the cotton had to be baled before it could be warehoused and transported to market. This was accomplished with a cotton press, an early type of baler that was usually powered by two mules walking in a circle with each attached to an overhead arm that turned a huge wooden screw. The downward action of this screw compressed the processed cotton into a uniform bale-shaped wooden enclosure, where
10904-413: The separation was to prevent the noise and smells of cooking activities from reaching the main house. Sometimes the cookhouse contained two rooms, one for the actual kitchen and the other to serve as the residence for the cook. Still other arrangements had the kitchen in one room, a laundry in the other, and a second story for servant quarters. The pantry could be in its own structure or in a cool part of
11020-417: The task. The wash boiler was a cast iron or copper cauldron in which clothes or other fabrics and soapy water were heated over an open fire. The wash-stick was a wooden stick with a handle at its uppermost part and four to five prongs at its base. It was simultaneously pounded up and down and rotated in the washing tub to aerate the wash solution and loosen any dirt. The items would then be vigorously rubbed on
11136-483: The term dependency can be applied to these buildings. A few were common, such as the carriage house and blacksmith shop; but most varied widely among plantations and were largely a function of what the planter wanted, needed, or could afford to add to the complex. These buildings might include schoolhouses , offices , churches , commissary stores , gristmills , and sawmills . Found on some plantations in every Southern state, plantation schoolhouses served as
11252-605: 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
11368-754: The top eight percent of landowners. In his study of southwest Georgia, Lee Formwalt defines planters in terms of size of land holdings rather than in terms of numbers of people enslaved. Formwalt's planters are in the top 4.5% of landowners, translating into real estate worth $ 6,000 or more in 1850, $ 24,000 or more in 1860, and $ 11,000 or more in 1870. In his study of Harrison County, Texas , Randolph B. Campbell classifies large planters as owners of 20 people, and small planters as owners of between 10 and 19 people. In Chicot and Phillips Counties, Arkansas, Carl H. Moneyhon defines large planters as owners of 20 or more people, and of 600 acres (240 ha) or more. Many nostalgic memoirs about plantation life were published in
11484-697: 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 ft (6.1 m) of floodwater for ten days. Part of the Tarboro and Princeville city limits are defined by the Tar River. 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. The gateway to
11600-401: The town of Tarboro and the entire Rocky Mount metropolitan area . Edgecombe County, North Carolina Edgecombe County ( / ˈ ɛ dʒ k ə m / EJ -kum or / ˈ ɛ dʒ k oʊ m / EJ -kohm ) is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina . As of the 2020 census , the population was 48,900. Its county seat is Tarboro . Edgecombe County is part of
11716-502: The town. The population density was 1,025.3 inhabitants per square mile (395.9/km). There were 4,993 housing units at an average density of 448.5 per square mile (173.2/km). The racial makeup of the town was 47.2% White , 48.4% African American , 0.1% Native American , 0.5% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 2.9% some other race , and 0.8% from two or more races. 4.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 4,565 households, out of which 30.5% had children under
11832-671: The upkeep, some, like the Monmouth Plantation in Natchez, Mississippi and the Lipscomb Plantation in Durham, North Carolina , have become small luxury hotels or bed and breakfasts . Not only Monticello and Mount Vernon but some 375 former plantation houses are museums that can be visited. There are examples in every Southern state. Centers of plantation life such as Natchez run plantation tours. Traditionally
11948-527: The upper South, like their counterparts in the North , barns had to provide basic shelter for the animals and storage of fodder . Unlike the upper regions, most plantations in the lower South did not have to provide substantial shelter to their animals during the winter. Animals were often kept in fattening pens with a simple shed for shelter, with the main barn or barns being utilized for crop storage or processing only. Stables were an essential type of barn on
12064-400: Was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.16. In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.10% under the age of 18, 8.60% from 18 to 24, 28.40% from 25 to 44, 23.40% from 45 to 64, and 12.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 86.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.80 males. The median income for
12180-475: Was a free-standing structure and at others it was attached to the main house by side-wings. It developed from the Acadian tradition of using the loft of the house as a bedroom for young men. A variety of domestic and lesser agricultural structures surrounded the main house on all plantations. Most plantations possessed some, if not all, of these outbuildings , often called dependencies, commonly arranged around
12296-456: Was a plantation chapel or church. These were built for a variety of reasons. In many cases the planter built a church or chapel for the use of the plantation slaves, although they usually recruited a white minister to conduct the services. Some were built to exclusively serve the plantation family, but many more were built to serve the family and others in the area who shared the same faith. This seems to be especially true with planters within
12412-402: Was a very labor-intensive crop to harvest, with the fibers having to be hand-picked from the bolls . This was coupled with the equally laborious removal of seeds from fiber by hand. Following the invention of the cotton gin , cotton plantations sprang up all over the South and cotton production soared, along with the expansion of slavery. Cotton also caused plantations to grow in size. During
12528-428: Was almost always in a separate building in the South until modern times, sometimes connected to the main house by a covered walkway. This separation was partially due to the cooking fire generating heat all day long in an already hot and humid climate. It also reduced the risk of fire. Indeed, on many plantations the cookhouse was built of brick while when the main house was of wood-frame construction. Another reason for
12644-430: Was an overseer's house. The overseer was largely responsible for the success or failure of an estate, making sure that quotas were met and sometimes meting out punishment for infractions by the enslaved. The overseer was responsible for healthcare, with enslaved people and slave houses inspected routinely. He was also the record keeper of most crop inventories and held the keys to various storehouses. The overseer's house
12760-488: 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
12876-450: Was distasteful due to mineral content, the potable water on many plantations came from cisterns that were supplied with rainwater by a pipe from a rooftop catchment. These could be huge aboveground wooden barrels capped by metal domes, such as was often seen in Louisiana and coastal areas of Mississippi, or underground brick masonry domes or vaults, common in other areas. Some structures on plantations provided subsidiary functions; again,
12992-478: Was formed in 1993 from the merger of the old Edgecombe County Schools and Tarboro City Schools systems. The county is home to Edgecombe Community College with campuses in Tarboro and Rocky Mount. The county is divided into fourteen townships , which are both numbered and named: Plantations in the American South Plantation complexes were common on agricultural plantations in
13108-406: 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 2 acres (8,100 m) each. These squares being divided into lots of 0.5 acres (2,000 m), 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
13224-399: Was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 27.9% from 45 to 64, and 19.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.3 males. For the period 2010–14, the estimated median annual income for a household in the town was $ 34,267, and
13340-430: Was usually a modest dwelling, not far from the cabins of the enslaved workers. The overseer and his family, even when white and southern, did not freely mingle with the planter and his family. They were in a different social stratum than that of the owner and were expected to know their place. In village-type slave quarters on plantations with overseers, his house was usually at the head of the slave village rather than near
13456-405: Was utilized to preserve meat, usually pork , beef , and mutton . It was commonly built of hewn logs or brick. Following the slaughter in the fall or early winter, salt and sugar were applied to the meat at the beginning of the curing process, and then the meat was slowly dried and smoked in the smokehouse by a fire that did not add any heat to the smokehouse itself. If it was cool enough,
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