Featured image: On Main Street, renovated locales and historic icons — a former service station, now home to Tarboro Brewing Company, and the old Colonial Theater, built in 1919 — look equally at home.
Tarboro is a walking town. A front-porch-sitting place. The kind of community where “Tell your mama I said ‘hey’!” is yelled from car windows. And no wonder. Established in 1760, it’s had time to be worn in and loved well. Here, neighbors share a rich history: of wars and floods, renewal and preservation. From Calvary Episcopal Church, consecrated in 1868, to the carefully restored homes and architecture in its 45-block historic district, one of the largest in the state, Tarboro embodies the spirit of its past. But it isn’t stuck there. There’s a youthful energy on its charming downtown streets, too — in the people, the murals, the shops. So go on, take a walk.
Tarboro Coffee House offers a warm Main Street welcome in the historic 1907 Bridgers Building, once the offices of East Carolina Railroad founder Henry Clark Bridgers Sr. photograph by Charles Harris
Photograph by Charles Harris
Calvary Episcopal Church
Inside the Gothic Revival church are original pews and other furnishings, including an altar believed to have been made out of leftover oak used in the construction of a Confederate war ram, the CSS Albemarle.
Photograph by Charles Harris
Martin Millennium Academy
Flags of many nations line the entry of Edgecombe County’s first global K-8 school with Spanish immersion. Here, with help from 17 international teachers, Tarboro natives become scholars of the world.
Downtown is a family affair for Inez Ribustello, who, with husband Stephen, owns Tarboro Brewing and On The Square restaurant (try the pimento cheeseburger).
Blocks away, Ribustello’s dad, Rusty, and stepmom, Mary Ann, sell family-recipe peanut brittle at Rusty’s Gift Shop. photograph by Charles Harris
For decades, a remote piece of Currituck County has been a respite for wildlife. Now under the protection of conservationists, this land, the waters surrounding it, and the skies above will remain a constant in our coastal circle of life.
On North Carolina’s coast, boardwalks wind alongside our sounds, rivers, and beaches, reminding us that the journey is often just as delightful as the destination.
From Wanchese to Duck, these landmark businesses and the families who run them connect consumers with the daily catch.
As the sun sets at Grandfather Mountain, fireflies put on a magnificent show — for those willing to stop and pay attention.
