Tabor City, North Carolina
Tabor City ( ) is a town in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States. It is the southernmost town in the county. It is located just north of the North Carolina/South Carolina line, about north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and is just north of Loris, South Carolina. The population was 2,511 as of the 2010 census. History Pre-European According to Swanton (1952), before the arrival of the Europeans, the area was home to the Cape Fear Indians, the Waccamaw Indians, and the Saponas. 1670s–1830s During the Revolutionary War, men from the area joined with the rebels in the Battle of Brown Marsh. The Loyalists won, marking the high point of their efforts to defeat the revolution in the southern theater. Men from the area may have also aided the American forces in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, which had a much more favorable outcome for the Americans. The Siege of Charleston saw troops from the coastal Carolinas unsuccessfully defend the city from the British. Early settlers in the area farmed, raised cattle & pigs, and manufactured naval stores. From the longleaf pine trees come products used in shipbuilding. These products or "stores" are turpentine, rosin, tar and pitch. Pitch was needed to coat the hulls of ships to protect them in tropical waters. Camp meetings filled an ecclesiastical and spiritual need in the unchurched settlements. The Honey Camp meeting site (which became the Green Sea Baptist Church) was one of the first large camp meetings in the region at nearby Green Sea, South Carolina. Population increased and settlement moved inland, which led to the founding of a congregation in the area just north of the state border. Around 1837, the congregation of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church erected their first building, constructed of logs. 1830s–1930s The original community took its name from the first prominent church in the area, the Mount Tabor Baptist Church(now the Tabor City Baptist Church), which itself is named after the biblical Mount Tabor, and was founded in 1838. A village coalesced around the area of the church which was organized as a town shortly after 1840. The town officially incorporated in 1904. The church was originally located near the intersection of what is now Stake Road and East 5th Street. Business activity started in Tabor City by the mid-1850s, with the development of a saw mill, turpentine still, grocery store and dry goods store. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad located a station in the town in 1886. The turpentine industry was huge in the area throughout the 19th Century. Many wagonloads of turpentine, rosin and pitch were carried to the rail station in Grist, NC, for shipment to Wilmington, North Carolina and other environs. The town was officially incorporated in 1905. In 1906, William Fowler donated land for the Tabor City Baptist Church, at the site which has been in continuous use since the completion of the construction and is still currently in use, as of April 2023. The new church and sanctuary was