Tuesday 19th. At 6 Oclock I left Tarborough accompanied by some of the most respectable people of the place for a few Miles. Dined at a trifling place called Greenville 25 Miles distant and lodged at one Allans 14 Miles further a very indifferent house without stabling which for the first time since I commenced my Journey were obliged to stand without a cover.
Greenville is on Tar River and the exports the same as from Tarborough with a greater proportion of Tar—for the lower down the greater number of Tar markers [makers] are there. This article is, contrary to all ideas one would entertain on the subject, rolled as Tobacco by an axis which goes through both heads. One horse draws two barrels in this manner.
Greenville, N.C., seat of Pitt County, was incorporated in 1771 as Martinsborough; its name was changed in 1786 to honor Nathanael Greene. Allen’s tavern was run by Shadrach Allen (born c.1752) of Pitt County, one of the county’s delegates to the state legislature 1788–89 and to the state convention of 1789 that ratified the United States Constitution. In 1790 he had 8 whites in his household and 15 slaves (, 148).