Simpson, NC

The Norfolk and Southern Railroad still gives Simpson its orientation: the village sits about a mile south of NC 33 at the intersection of SR 1755, SR 1759, and the rail line, just outside Greenville. The Tar River runs two miles north. Simpson grew around the railroad after it arrived in 1911; a post office opened in 1916, incorporation followed in 1918, and the name honors John Simpson, an early settler and Revolutionary War general. Municipal status lapsed during the 1960s, then returned through a new incorporation by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1975.

Simpson Community Park is the village's clearest shared center. Around it, the land-use plan describes gently rolling uplands, swampy stream valleys, homes, and fields that extend beyond the corporate limits. Tobacco, corn, and soybeans remain part of the wider agricultural setting, and Greenville is the nearby regional center. Simpson's present map is compact and easy to read: rail and local roads meet near the park, the river lies just north, and cultivated land presses close to the residential streets.