Tabor Academy was founded in 1876 as a school for children from Marion, Massachusetts, by a bequest in the will of Elizabeth Sprague (Pitcher) Taber, a wealthy widow and benefactress of the town.

Article 27 of her will stated, "I have lately caused to be erected on a lot owned by me in Marion Lower Village, a building ... to be known as 'The Tabor Academy'.

The first headmaster was Clark Phelps Howland of Yale University, who reported in 1884 that "It is the aim of the school to give thorough instruction, and to encourage in its pupils a desire for the real rather than the showy, and to develop the moral as well as the intellectual element."

While Elizabeth Taber did not stipulate any particular religious affiliation for the academy, Howland claimed that Tabor "will probably always be under the management of those who sympathize with the Congregational faith."

Tabor was reorganized in 1916 as an independent secondary school for boys under the tenure of headmaster Walter Huston Lillard, who came to Tabor from Phillips Academy and was educated himself at Dartmouth College and Oxford University, is responsible for creating the first long-range vision for the future of the Academy: one that excluded girls.

He acquired the surrounding cottages and plots of land in order to secure the academy's future expansion' the area had increased ten-fold by the end of his tenure in 1942.

He selected the seal as an image to students to "sail towards broader horizons" and the motto because of its nautical meaning as the state of a vessel when everything is shipshape and accounted for.

"[4] After his years at Tabor, Walter "Cappy" Lillard went on to work for the United Nations in Vienna as the Chief of the Resettlement Division of the International Refugee Organization.

In 2002, Stroud commented on the experience of living and learning at Tabor, "Our unparalleled location on the edge of the sea creates our metaphor for education.

Tabor also has the waterfront on Sippican Harbor in Marion for swimming in the spring and summer months, and is used for the training of the sailing and rowing teams.

"[9] In August 1938, Tabor's status as an international power in schoolboy rowing was confirmed by its participation in one of the first recorded international schoolboy competitions on American waters when a crew of Radley College oarsmen traveled across the Atlantic via the Cunard Line RMS Aquitania to race the Tabor Academy crew on Sippican Harbor in Marion.

Rowing hard races until the finals they faced a well-rested Eton College crew and lost by ¾ of one boat length.

They still managed to reach the finals where they lost to traditional rival Kent School, who brought along their own provisions from the US, but won wide support from the British fans and press for their sportsmanship.

Those who have passed through Tabor have gone on to become candidates for the Presidency of the United States, billionaires and businessmen, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, Olympians and other influential people in the areas of business, government, culture and sport.

A 2009 report by the Boston Business Journal showed that two of the top six largest companies (in terms of annual revenue) in Massachusetts had a Tabor graduate as CEO.41°42′29″N 70°46′00″W / 41.70792°N 70.76665°W / 41.70792; -70.76665