At the center of the town’s Historic District, the 15-acre Town Common is the second oldest legislated town common in the US and the only remaining original common on the east coast, outside of Boston.  This historic public park, famous for its tall oaks, tree canopy, and war memorials has stood the test of time; however, in recent years, the Common has suffered major damage from several strong storms and hurricanes.

Both the Town of Tarboro and the citizens of the town have always recognized the value of protecting and maintaining trees within the community.  In March of 2014, the Town and the Tarboro Rotary Club reinforced the resolve to protect the trees when the parties entered into an agreement to develop and implement a comprehensive long-term plan to rehabilitate, maintain, and preserve the historic Town Common.  The goals of the participants include additional planting, proper pruning, and replacement of trees to enhance and preserve this precious historic landmark. The project intends to make gradual improvements to the Town Common over the next decade.

This first stage of the Tarboro Town Common – Restoration and Preservation Project accomplished the following:

  • Updated the Town Common portion of a previously conducted comprehensive inventory of all trees located in public rights-of-way and parks which was conducted in 2010-2011; and
  • Developed a report, which included the updated inventory data, tree assessment results, one to three year removal recommendations based on professional health and condition assessment; and species recommendations for replanting.
A copy of this report, as presented on February 17, 2017, can be found here.