Rocky Mount, North Carolina
A post office was made at the falls of the Tar River on March 22, 1816. The name "Rocky Mount" starts appearing in documented history at this point. The name referred to the rocky mound at the falls of the Tar River. Rocky Mount Mills, the second cotton mill in the state of North Carolina, was built there soon after in 1818. Its proprietors were two entrepreneurs and Joel Battle, who was the grandson of an original colonist who lived in the area. Joel bought out the other proprietors before giving the mill to his cousin James Smith Battle. The mill's spindles were run by enslaved African Americans until the 1850s. At that time, the mill owners only hired white women and girls, who were employed for the rest of the century.