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Things to do in Rocky Mount
We run a game store here, so we have an obvious bias. We've still tried to write the guide we'd want if we were driving in for the day.
Rocky Mount gets passed more than it gets visited. Sixty thousand vehicles a day go by on I-95, most of them treating it as the place between Richmond and Florence where you stop for fuel. That's a shame, because the town has a stranger and better history than almost anywhere its size in North Carolina.
It straddles two counties — the Nash / Edgecombe line runs straight through the middle of town, along the railroad. The name comes from the rocky mound at the falls of the Tar River, and the post office has been here since 1816.
Before you make the trip: hours, prices and even whole businesses change, and a guide like this can go stale. We checked everything here, but please confirm with the place itself before you drive in.
Three things Rocky Mount is genuinely known for
Not tourist-board filler — these are all documented, and all worth knowing before you visit.
Thelonious Monk was born here
The architect of bebop was born in Rocky Mount on 10 October 1917 and moved to New York as a young child. There's a state historical highway marker for him on East Thomas Street at North Washington Street.
Dr. King's earliest known “I have a dream”
On 27 November 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to around 1,800 people in the gymnasium of Booker T. Washington High School here and used the “I have a dream” refrain — nine months before the March on Washington. A reel-to-reel tape of it sat in the Braswell Memorial Library until an NC State professor rediscovered it; it was made public in 2015. It is the earliest known recording of King using those words.
Jim Thorpe lost his Olympic medals here
Thorpe played for the Rocky Mount Railroaders in 1909 and 1910. When it emerged in 1913 that he'd been paid to play, he was stripped of his 1912 golds. The IOC reversed it in 1982, and in 2022 finally declared him the sole winner of both events. It started with a season of minor-league ball in this town.
Where to actually go
Imperial Centre for the Arts & Sciences
270 Gay St. A converted early-1900s tobacco factory holding an art gallery, a theatre, and the Children's Museum & Science Center — which has been running since 1952 and was one of the first children's museums in the country. Tue–Sat 10–5, Sun 1–5, closed Monday. The gallery is free; the museum is $6. Rocky Mount residents get in free on Sundays with photo ID.
Rocky Mount Mills
1151 Falls Road. An 1818 cotton mill — the second built in North Carolina — burned by Union troops in 1863, rebuilt, and finally closed in 1996 as what was believed to be the oldest operating cotton mill in the South. It's now 82 acres of breweries, restaurants and event space. Bright Penny Brewing and HopFly both have taprooms there; The Prime Smokehouse runs a jazz series.
Battle Park
On Falls Road, north bank of the Tar. Recently rebuilt with over a million dollars of grant money: new greenway surface, around five miles of natural-surface hiking and mountain-bike trail, restrooms, a renovated boat ramp and fishing piers. The falls the town is named for are here.
Sunset Park
1550 River Drive, off Sunset Avenue. Twenty-five acres with disc golf, a skate park, sand volleyball and lighted courts. In summer the Amusement Center runs a historic miniature train, an antique carousel and a spray ground — $5 a head, Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, and closed after that.
Rocky Mount Event Center
285 NE Main St. A $48 million facility that opened in 2018 — eight basketball courts, sixteen volleyball courts, seating for thousands, an arcade, and open-play pickleball on weekdays. Worth checking what's on if you're in town for a weekend.
The Civil Rights Tour
A self-guided eight-stop tour of the town's civil rights and Black history, taking in the Monk and Buck Leonard markers, the “Around the Y” community, Anna Easter Brown, and the site of King's 1962 speech. The best two hours you can spend here.
Eating and drinking
A short list of places we can actually vouch for being open, rather than a scrape of every restaurant in town.
Lou Reda's an American Table
3646 Sunset Ave. Scratch kitchen with a bourbon-heavy bar, open since 2013. Weekend brunch 11–2:30. Closest thing to a proper dinner near our end of Sunset.
Gardner's Barbecue
Eastern NC barbecue, three locations in town — the Westridge one at 3651 Sunset Ave is a two-minute drive from us; the 301 flagship is at 1331 N Wesleyan Blvd.
Anne's Donuts & Bakery
2714 Sunset Ave, and effectively next door to us. Open from 6am on weekdays, 6am–2pm Saturday, closed Sunday.
Tipsy Tomato
7 East Elm Street, by the Mills. Wood-fired pizza, wings and craft beer, with lunch specials 11–2.
Larema Coffee House
106 S Washington St, downtown. Where to go if the plan involves sitting still for a while.
The Mills taprooms
Bright Penny and HopFly are both at 1151 Falls Road, both closed Mondays, both dog-friendly. HopFly lets you bring outside food into the beer garden.
Staying over
The cluster sits at I-95 exit 138 by US-64, a few minutes' drive from Sunset Avenue.
Hampton Inn Rocky Mount
530 N Winstead Ave — the closest of the chains to our end of Sunset, about a third of a mile from the Westridge shops.
Holiday Inn Rocky Mount I-95 at US 64
200 Enterprise Dr, (252) 937-7100. Right at the interchange.
River and Twine
24 East Elm Street — a tiny-house hotel next to the Mills. Not for everyone, and much more interesting than another room off the interstate.
And, since you asked
We said we were biased. Here's the disclosure.
Game Nook is a game store at 2916 Sunset Ave, inside Geek Valhalla. Seven categories of games on the floor, organized play every week, and a play space you can rent for your own group.
If it's raining, if you have a bored nine-year-old, or if you have two hours to fill before dinner, we are a genuinely good answer. If you came to Rocky Mount for the Monk marker and the Mills, go and do that first — it's a better story than ours.
