Historic Tarboro, North Carolina, was chartered in 1760. Nestled in a bend of the Tar
River, it was an important river port, the head of navigation on the Tar. As early as the
1730s a small community formed due to this natural asset, and a warehouse, customs
office and other commercial concerns together with a score of "plain and cheap" houses
made a bustling village.
The locals were a scrappy bunch, and gave the early governors and their agents a hard
time. Edgecombe County residents came down hard on the side of the Revolution, many
serving as officers in the Continental Army. One such was Thomas Blount (1759-1812),
whose handsome plantation house "The Grove" has been restored and is open for tours on
a daily basis. Blount was a very young officer, spent time in England as a prisoner of war,
but returned to North Carolina to participate in one of the largest merchant/shipping
companies in late 18th C. America.
"The Grove" was also home to Col. Louis Dicken Wilson (1789-1847), who served in the
NC Senate and fought in the Mexican War, and Col. John Luther Bridgers (1821-1884),
Commandant of Ft. Macon in the War Between the States.
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