Murfeesboro NC
Hiding in Plain Sight

Murfeesboro is in northeastern North Carolina and is east of Roanoke Rapids. It is just a few miles south of the Virginia border. Plantations in the area go back to the 17th Century. The town was dedicated in 1787 on a site that was formerly occupied by Indigenous People. The port on the Meherrin River became official three years later.

With fewer than three thousand people, the world has passed it by. The town no longer has an active port. The trade was slaves, cotton, and tobacco on flat-bottom barges. A skirmish in the area in 1781 between British troops and the local militia ended with the militia winning. In 1809 Hertford Academy was established and became the forerunner of Chowan University.

A fire destroyed most of the downtown business district so that only the university and residential district remained. A recent fire burned one of the remaining historic buildings. A dozen homes are on the National Registry of Historic Places, and a few of them are shown. The Hertford County Seat in nearby Winton was burned during the Civil War, but Murfreesboro was spared.

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