{"nrhp_refnum":"71000582","name":"Cotton Press","other_names":["See Also:Tarboro Town Common"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Town Common","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tarboro","county":"Edgecombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.89820660200007,"lon":-77.54386427499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-02-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Agriculture","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wooden, mule-powered cotton press about 22 feet tall, built around 1840 by Isaac Norfleet and now sited on the Tarboro Town Common in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, North Carolina.","why_significant":"The press is one of the few surviving examples of machinery used by Southern cotton growers in the nineteenth century. It reflects the importance of cotton in Edgecombe County, which in 1860 was North Carolina's largest cotton producer. It was first used for pressing cider and wine before being converted to baling cotton about 1860.","narrative":"A large wooden cotton press stands on the Tarboro Town Common, at the northeast corner of Albemarle and Wilson Streets. Isaac Norfleet, a wealthy planter and politician, built it around 1840 on his plantation southwest of Tarboro. The frame is heart pine, joined with mortise and tenon, and rises about twenty-two feet. Mules turned sweeps attached to a central shaft, a nineteen-inch wooden screw that drove a packing block downward. The press was first used for cider and wine, then converted to baling cotton about 1860. That was the year Edgecombe County led North Carolina in cotton production, at 15,000 bales. The Edgecombe County Historical Society moved the press to the Town Common about 1938. It is considered one of the few remaining examples of the machinery Southern cotton growers used in the nineteenth century. The structure was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1940, and a small octagonal roof protects the shaft.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date c. 1840)","architect_builder":"Isaac Norfleet","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered and moved; owned by the Town of Tarboro. The county historical society planned to replace the shed roof.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.807496-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/7201/47720100/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/71000582.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000582/1b07d7aaab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000582/1b07d7aaab-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norfleet_Plantation,_Cotton_Press,_Albermarle_Street_(moved_from_Norfleet_Plantation),_Tarboro_(Edgecombe_County,_North_Carolina).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norfleet_Plantation,_Cotton_Press,_Albermarle_Street_(moved_from_Norfleet_Plantation),_Tarboro_(Edgecombe_County,_North_Carolina).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720100","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Press_(Tarboro,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2394010"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/edgecombe-county/cotton-press-71000582/"}