Tar River

… rises in W central Person County and flows SE through Granville, Franklin, Nash, Edgecombe, and Pitt Counties to Beaufort County, where it becomes the Pamlico River. It is 179 mi. long. Appears on the Moseley map, 1733, apparently for the first time; previously known as Pampticough and other spellings of the modern Pamlico. There are many explanations of the origin of the name. It may be from an Indian word, Tau, meaning "river of health"; named for the Taw River in Devonshire, England; or named because of the tar produced in the counties through which it flows.