Record #:

22953

Author(s):

Kammerer, Roger

Abstract:

Images of steamboats have become synonymous with the south. From those described in Huckleberry Finn to modern gambling steamboats, they seem to fascinate everyone. However, few know that these ships have had an important history along the Tar River. The first ship on the Tar was a sidewheel called "Edmund D. McNair." It operated on the Tar from 1836 to 1839. By the 1870s, steamboats traversed the Tar River frequently. The Clyde Line, Old Dominion Line, and Shiloh Oil Mills companies all constructed or put boats on the Tar. Twenty-three different boats traveled up and down the Tar River until 1915, when the steamboat era ended.

Source:

Greenville Times / Pitt's Past (NC Microforms), Vol. Issue , Jun 26-Jul 9 1985, p12-14, il

Subject(s):

Steamboats--North Carolina, Eastern--History; Tar River--History--Steamboats