History

As the northernmost point of navigation on the Meherrin River, Murfreesboro was the deepest.  A seagoing vessel out of the Albemarle Sound might penetrate into the large and productive farming area of southern Virginia and northeaster North Carolina.  Murfreesboro’s Historic District contains outstanding examples of houses and commercial buildings constructed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  The town was designated by Congress in 1790 as an official port of entry, and the customs records indicate a profitable three-cornered trade with New England and the West Indies.

The Founding Father of Murfreesboro and Revolutionary War hero Hardy Murfree was sent by Hertford County in 1789 to the constitutional convention at Fayetteville, North Carolina.  Murfree’s vote at the convention helped to win a victory for the Federalists and North Carolina belatedly took it rightful place alongside its sister states.  Murfree’s son, William Hardy, was a member of the UNC’s class 1801, among the first graduates of the first public university of the United States.  His home and brick office still stand in the Historic District.