Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States.

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 (610,000 m2) 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.

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.

The streets are seventy-two feet wide, and cross each other at right angles, leaving squares of 2 acres (8,100 m2) each.

"[10]Due to 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.

Before being disfranchised by the passage in 1899 of a new state constitutions, black citizens elected four African Americans to the U.S. Congress from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

[13][14] 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 the Blount-Bridgers House, leads visitors through the scenic older neighborhoods of the town.

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 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.

A variety of events, including the Tarboro Common Arts Festival and the Blueberry Day, are celebrated in downtown.

[22] Chinese tiremaker Triangle Group will be building two manufacturing facilities at a 1,449-acre site in Edgecombe County at Kingsboro Business Park, located between Rocky Mount and Tarboro.

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.

[23] Corning has also constructed a new $86 million distribution center that will bring 111 new jobs, they will be operational in the first quarter 2020.

Interstate 95 and U.S. 64 were constructed near Tarboro, allowing for access to and from the East Coast's major markets, many of which are within one day's drive.

Tarboro is convenient to area and regional airports, freight and passenger train service, interstate and intrastate highway systems, and 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.

PGV provides commuter service to Charlotte Douglas International Airport through US Airways Express with 11 daily flights.

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.

Amtrak provides two north and two southbound trains per day at its Rocky Mount station, located 17 miles (27 km) west of Tarboro.

Trains travel to destinations in eastern North Carolina and also to points west and south of town.