Edgecombe County, NC - Miscellaneous

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Sarah P. Lynch

THE HISTORICAL NEWS

State of North Carolina
Duplin, Edgecombe, Lenoir, Nash, Wayne & Wilson Counties
Vol. 21 No.-59-NC  Southern Historical News, Inc. September 2001
(No author noted)

Through the years it has been said that every Tarborean, no matter how poor, owns 
a share in some of the prettiest real estate in North Carolina.

The property referred to is the Town Common which has been passed down from 
generation to generation of Tarboro Citizens since 1760 when five men – Benjamin 
Hart, Aquilla Sugg, Lawrence Toole, Elisha Battle and James Moir – purchased the 
town site from Joseph Howell, Jr.

The original Common was 50 acres, which bordered the town on all four sides, from what 
is now left north of Wilson Street to the river on the south.  However, with approval 
of some of the commissioners and later, the General Assembly the 50 acres have been 
whittled away to a point where it is now only nine acres in size. 

Apparently a tobacco warehouse was located on or near that portion of public land 
bordering the river when the Common was established.  When Commissioners Bignall, 
Toole, Hall, Hearn and Haywood met on Monday, June 11, 1787, they approved two 
encroachments on the Common in exchange for rent.

The portion of the minute reads, “On the petition of Daniel Kulkett it was agreed that 
he be permitted to erect a Coopers shop on such part of the town common continuous to 
the Tobacco Warehouse, as may be fixed on by Mr. Bignall and Mr. Hall, the said Kulkett 
paying an annual Rent of Twenty Shillings in consideration of such permission.” 

“On the petition of Michael Hernderhon it was agreed, that a like permission be extended 
for the purpose of erecting a Snuff Factory, he paying an annual Rent of Twenty 
Shillings in consideration of such permission.”

The next indication of attempted encroachments on the Common came at the meeting of the 
commissioners on August 18, 1789.  At that session Geraldus Toole and Solomon Sessums 
petitioned to erect a tan yard on the Town Common  “adjoining or lying opposite Lot N.1.”  
(the corner of what is now Albemarle and Wilson Streets).

Richard Blackledge petitioned for permission “to clear a seine place on that part of the 
River adjoining the Town Common.  That is to say from the Bridge down the River to the 
mouth of Hollen’s Creek and up the same to the Milldam for the purpose of hauling Shads 
and Herrings in their Season for his own benefit and account, and at other times it may 
be used by such of the inhabitants of the Town may Chose and be prepared for the same.”

However, the commissioners were apparently getting fed up with such encroachments.

Turning down the requests of the petitioners, the town representatives, wrote in the 
minutes:  “Resolved that no petition hereafter praying for the use of any part of the 
Town Common shall be received.”

One of the first records of legislative approval being granted for giving away the 
Common came in 1813.  The 11 trustees of the Tarboro Academy—Francis L. Dancy, Edmund 
D. McNair, Jeremiah Battle, Robert Joyner, Bennett Barrow, James W. Clark, Joel Battle, 
James Southerland, Henry A. Donaldson, Peter Evans and Cary Whitakers – were given two 
acres for a school site.

In 1827 the sale of one of those two acres were granted to the trustees.  By 1856 the 
legislature had acted favorably on a request of the town commissioners and authorization 
was given to sell the portion of the Common “lying on the eastern and northeastern” part 
of town and to extend the limits of the town in that direction by purchasing a strip of 
land.  The same act gave commissioners power to sell as much of the Common  “lying 
between the river bridge and the flatboat landing, running parallel to Tar River, as 
they deem advisable.“ 

Through the years other encroachment were made.  Some Common acreage was sold;  portions 
were used for public building such as the milk plant and water plant.  Final approval of 
a plan to use any of the present nine acres came on February 27, 1937 when the General 
Assembly at the request of the town commissioners, authorized a library site “not to 
exceed one acre” on the west side of Main Street.  However, library-building plans were 
delayed and by the time the needed funds were raised – 1954 – public opinion had reached 
the point where the site on the Common was not used.

The Common has long been the place for any large outdoor meetings in Tarboro.  Members 
of the Edgecombe Guards drilled there, and it was in the Common that the Confederates 
mustered before marching away to the Civil War.  

The Common has long been the focal point for political rallies and celebrations.  During 
the 1890s when Grover Cleveland was elected for president for the second time, a mammoth 
barbecue was held there.  Pigs were cooked over trenches extending for more than 100 
years down the side of the Common.  Thousands from all over the country turned out for 
the event. 

Also in the 1890s there was a dirt bicycle race track which extended around the east side 
of the Common and a bicycle race track which extended around the east side of the Common 
and a bicycle club was organized with members paying dues for the track’s upkeep.

On Memorial Day, 1904, the community turned out to watch the laying of the cornerstone 
of the Confederate monument. 

It was a big day for Tarboro and Edgecombe County.  The Masons marched from the Masonic 
Temple to the courthouse where they were joined by the local chapter of the United 
Daughters of the Confederacy.  A band led the marchers to the Common where the Masons 
officially laid the cornerstone.  In the stone were placed photographs of Jefferson 
Davis, Robert E. Lee, a sketch of Pender’s life by his nephew, James Pender, a sketch 
of the life of Gov. Henry Clark by Bishop J.B. Cheshire, a Confederate flag given by 
Miss Mariam Lanier, Confederate money given by Mrs. Bettie C. Daniels, Pauline Powell, 
and Henry Clark Bourne, North Carolina State Bank note given by Miss Sally Staton, North 
Carolina “Shin-plaster money” given by Mrs. R.C. Brown, a list of UDC members, a list of 
the Edgecombe Guards, a copy of the Weekly Southerner for May 5, 1904, a copy of the 
Memorial Day program,  a poem Apostrophe to the Confederate Dead by Mary Groome, and for 
some reason, a picture of Old Blanford Church at Petersburg, VA.

After the cornerstone was laid, the crowd went to the town hall where the Memorial Day 
address was delivered by Claude Kitchen, and Crosses of Honor were presented to the 
Confederate veterans by Mrs. H.C. Bourne, president of the UDC and the ceremony ended 
with the bank playing  Dixie.

Another memorial was placed in the Common in 1910 when the Dixie-Lee Chapter of the 
Children of the Confederacy dedicated a fountain in memory of Henry Lawson Wyatt of 
Tarboro.  Wyatt was the first Confederate killed in the Civil War.  A member of the 
Edgecombe Guards, Wyatt was killed on opening day of the Battle at Bethel, VA.

The third monument is to Louis D. Wilson, a political hero of the middle 19th century.  
A member of the General Assembly for years, Wilson volunteered for service in the 
Mexican War and died of a fever at Vera Cruz.  His grave and monument were first 
located at the north side of the courthouse lawn, but when the courthouse was enlarged, 
it was moved to the Town Common.

The fourth and final monument to be placed in the Common is a sun-dial – the top of 
which has been stolen-dedicated to the Rev. Bertram Brown, rector of Calvary Episcopal 
Church for 27 years.  Mr. Brown was known and loved by all denominations of Tarboro 
and Edgecombe and funds for the memorial were raised by public subscription.

The single relic on the Common is the cotton press.

Later the school, a wooden two-story building, was built on the east end, the site of 
the Old Bridgers School.  Known as a Female Academy, that building gave way to the old 
building, which was constructed in 1910.

During the past score of years the town commissioners, under the leadership of M.S. 
Brown, appropriated funds for the preservation of the large oaks,  which shade the 
nine acres.  Rotten limbs were removed and holes were plugged with cement.  Trees 
beyond saving were cut down, but replacements were set out to assure shade for future 
generation of Tarboroeans.  

The older residents of the town only hope that the future generations will come to love 
and respect those nine acres of ground for which for 216 years have been a silent 
witness to all of our history.  

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