Tar Heel Trace
Tar Heel Trace is a State Scenic Byway in North Carolina. Within North Carolina it covers roughly 55 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Tar Heel Trace with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Tar Heel Trace crosses North Carolina's coastal plain from Wilson to Williamston, through pine country tied to the state's 'Tar Heel' nickname. The byway takes its name from the pine tar and turpentine industry that once thrived here; one popular legend holds that British troops under General Cornwallis emerged from the nearby Tar River with tar stuck to their boots, giving North Carolinians the nickname that stuck ever since, though the story's exact origin is debated by historians. The route passes towns founded as early as 1779, including Conetoe, a farming community surrounded by soybean and peanut fields whose name is pronounced 'Cuh-KNEE-tuh.' In Williamston, the Morningstar Nature Refuge shelters more than 250 recorded bird species along migratory flight paths, while just north of town, the well-preserved Fort Branch earthworks overlook the Roanoke River from a Civil War gun emplacement built to guard against Union gunboats. It's a quiet, pine-shaded drive through eastern North Carolina farm country, with no fee to travel any part of it.
- Wilson to Williamston
- 'Tar Heel' nickname legend
- Conetoe farming community
- Morningstar Nature Refuge (250+ bird species)
- Fort Branch Civil War site
- pine tar/turpentine industry history
Plan a drive on Tar Heel Trace →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Tar Heel Trace
No campgrounds are listed close to Tar Heel Trace yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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