Edgecombe County, North Carolina, has a long and intriguing history stretching back to the 1730s, when the first permanent European residents began settling the banks of the Tar River, and beyond, when Tuscaroras roamed the woodlands of this fertile region. Edgecombe County was recognized as a county in 1741; just over a century later it led the nation in cotton production and was well known as a forward-thinking and prosperous county of exceptional natural beauty. The tremendous changes ushered in by the Civil War and Reconstruction coincided with the development of photography. Photographers like S.R. Alley in Tarboro, who captured life in Edgecombe County on film in the crucial era covered here, were unknowingly recording history in a way that future generations will be forever grateful for.

Edgecombe County is a unique combination of beautiful pastoral scenery and strong, interesting people. Communities like Pinetops, Whitakers, Speed, Leggett, and Conetoe provide an excellent insight into the struggles and triumphs of traditional American small towns. In this highly anticipated second volume, you will explore the social identity of Edgecombe County by taking visual tours of several historic neighborhoods, schools, and churches. As with any successful region, Edgecombe Countys greatest resource is its people, for the area has provided a wealth of talented citizens to the political arena, military battlefronts, the playing fields of professional sports, and the artistic community. This collection of images also honors the countless men and women who persevered through the countys periods of war, depression, and natural disaster and continued to support one another in times of need and adversity.

"Between these pages the reader will learn that North Carolina citizens did not idly stand by as their soldiers marched off to war. The women worked themselves into “patriotic exhaustion” through Aid Societies. Civilians with different means of support from the lower class to the plantation mistress wrote the governor complaining of hoarding, speculation, the tithe, bushwhackers, unionism, conscription, and exemptions. Never before had so many died due to guerilla warfare. Unknown before starving women with weapons stormed the merchant or warehouses in search for food. Others turned to smuggling, spying, or nature’s oldest profession. Information from period newspapers, as well as mostly unpublished letters, tell their stories."

The picturesque beauty and unique history of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, are surpassed only by the strength of character of the region's citizens. In this new and singular pictorial history, all of these wonderful attributes are portrayed in vibrant detail. The first historical retrospective of Nash County to appear in 20 years, Rocky Mount and Nash County encompasses many of the county's smaller towns and crossroads and chronicles the development of industry, agriculture, and business, as well as the remarkable people who call the region home, in rich visual imagery and intriguing anecdotes.