A park is where regular people can go to saunter, to take deep breaths and to recalibrate; a Town Common helps the whole community to find its rhythm.

It’s just a simple thing. A strip of grass running through the middle of a town, along with some really old trees. But it does the job, anchoring the historic district in a way that is unique and special.

Tarboro’s Town Common is one of only two extant official chartered green spaces surviving from English colonial times (the other is Boston Common). It runs six city blocks – from Panola Street to Albemarle Avenue – and is not only a welcome splash of green but an old world nod to the city’s deep cultural roots and historical charm.

The Common invites walking, relaxing, promenading and a breathing in of the sense of civility and sophistication that permeates the cultural milieu here – part of the the elegance and panache that sets Tarboro aside as a town, an icon of Southern style, flair, dash and good taste.

One of my favorite maps shows that while Tarboro may have continued to grow, the Town Common has not changed since this map was drawn up in 1882 (I also love this map because our “new” house is already visible – across the street and a half block north from the “Public Cemetery”).

Maybe this is at the heart of what has attracted us to this town; the immutability of this place, the timelessness in the face of change that isn’t always kind, the deep roots of goodness and of community and of faith.

And this stretch of grass. I do love this good stretch of ancient grass – DEREK