Tar Heel is a town located in

Bladen County, North Carolina Bladen County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

, United States. The population was 90 at the 2020 census. Tar Heel is home to the largest pig processing plant in the world, which opened in 1992, operated by

Smithfield Foods Smithfield Foods, Inc., is an American pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia. Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter and his son, the company is the largest pig and pork producer in ...

and is located just north of the town limits.

Geography

Tar Heel is located on the banks of the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a blackwater river in east-central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River in the town of ...

. Its major highways are NC 87 and NC 131. Fayetteville is to the north, Elizabethtown is to the southeast, and Lumberton is to the southwest. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , all land.

History

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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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 A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, 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. The town was known for its landing on the Cape Fear River. The state operated a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

at this landing, and it was a major loading point for vessels that transported agricultural goods to the market in Wilmington. The major product was barrels of

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

. Tar Heel had several turpentine stills, and the remains of some of the old stills can be found in the area. The results of transporting the barrels of turpentine, leaking barrels, caused a tar-like material to be found around the landing and the access to the river. When the community people talked of going to the village, it was said they were going to get tar on their heels, thus the name

Tar Heel Tar Heel (or Tarheel) is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina and its people. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace ba ...

. The town of Tar Heel is often confused with

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

, home of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The Purdie House and Purdie Methodist Church and Walnut Grove are listed on the

Government

The town of Tar Heel is governed by a mayor/council governing body. The mayor and council are elected to four-year terms. The town's council meets monthly. In July 2011, the town of Tar Heel made world news when it was announced that no one was running for any of the four positions on the town board. The town held the election and Roy Dew was elected mayor of Tar Heel by write-in votes in November 2011. Also elected to the town's council by write-in votes were Angela Hall, Sam Allen, and Derek Druzak (2013). The Town Mayor is now Sam Allen; he was selected to serve the remainder of Dew's term, after the latter passed while in office. In 2021, Allen was elected to a full term as Mayor with Hall and Druzak re-elected to the town council by write-in, as well as Steve Dowless who was the only listed candidate for town council.

Services

The services provided by this small rural community are: * Street maintenance, sanitation pickup for residents, and street lights. * Police protection is provided by the Bladen County Sheriff's Office. * Fire protection is provided by the Tar Heel Rural Volunteer Fire Department. * Water services are provided by the Tar Heel Water Corporation.

Education

Public schools, part of the Bladen County School system, in the Tar Heel area: *Plain View Elementary *Tar Heel Middle School *Tar Heel High School consolidated with Bladenboro High School in 2001. The Tar Heel High School records show the school was originally built circa 1909.

Churches

The greater Tar Heel community is home to these churches: * Love Grove Baptist Church * Tar Heel Baptist Church * Tar Heel Free Will Church * Beth Car Presbyterian – listed as a historic site * Clark's Chapel * New Life Ministry * Purdie's Methodist – The oldest unaltered Methodist Church in North Carolina, National Register of Historic Places listings in Bladen County, North Carolina

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there are 117 people, 60 households, and 34 families residing in the town. The racial makeup of the town is majority White (93.2% or 107 persons). 5.1% (or 6 persons) are Mexican; and 3.4% (4 persons) are Native American with 2 people identifying solely as Native American and 2 others identifying as also White. There are 0.00%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

and 0.00%

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n or Pacific Islander.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Bladen County, North Carolina Towns in North Carolina Meat processing in the United States