Stocky Paint Mare

The region around the Tar River was continuously inhabited by indigenous people for 12,000 years before the first Europeans arrived, when it was home to the Tuscarora people. Europeans began settling the area after the Tuscarora War in the early 1700s. Like many other early settlements in colonial America, they settled along the fall line between the Piedmont and coastal plain, which is the point at which rivers become unnavigable sailing upstream and water flowing downstream can power a mill. The Falls of the Tar River Primitive Baptist Church was established in 1757, which still meets today, although its original building has since been replaced. Much of the community attended the church so that it served as an early form of record keeping and law enforcement with citations given for crimes.