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History · Tar Heel

20% of Tar Heel’s homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: maps from 1957 on and the census since 1970.

1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
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Photo: User:Dincher · CC BY-SA 3.0

What stands out about Tar Heel’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Tar Heel are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tar Heel’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tar Heel’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Tar Heel came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tar Heel.

Read it all →

This farming community has a history dating back to the Revolutionary War. Colonel Thomas Robeson, for whom Robeson County was named, lived in the Tar Heel community. His home is located just to the east of the town. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as Walnut Grove.

The town of Mayville, no longer in existence, was on the Robeson and Bladen County line and was the village mentioned in the diary of Elizabeth Ellis Robeson (1847–1866). Just when the village moved to what is now Tar Heel is unknown. During the Civil War, Colonel Thomas Purdie and Captain Daniel Munn, residents of the Tar Heel area, led troops at Gettysburg and Fort Fisher.

The Town of Tar Heel was incorporated by the State of North Carolina in 1963.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Tar Heel on the map, 1957 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tar Heel. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Tar Heel on the 1957 USGS mapTar Heel on the 1986 USGS map1957Bladenboro sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Tar Heel.

On the National Register

1 listing protects 4 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Walnut Grove
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Plantation1
All 1 listings
Walnut GroveDistrict · listed 1975

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Tar Heel, census by census

0100198020002020Peak: 118

Between 70 and 118 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tar Heel’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Tar Heel

Nobody well known was born in Tar Heel itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Afeni ShakurAmerican political activist · b. 1947
Curtis BrownAmerican Air Force pilot and astronaut · b. 1956
TatankaAmerican professional wrestler · b. 1961
L
Lee McRaeAmerican sprinter · b. 1966
Bill JohnsonAmerican politician and academic administrator · b. 1954
Chasity MelvinAmerican basketball player · b. 1976

Questions about Tar Heel’s history

What is on the National Register in Tar Heel?

One place: the Walnut Grove (listed 1975).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.