Garysburg first appeared in official records as a post office named "Peeples Town" some time in between 1818 and 1825. "Peeples Town" or "Tavern" as it was also called, was located near the banks of the Roanoke River, a site south of its present day location. Roderick B. Gary, a native of the Town of Halifax, NC later settled in Northampton County, NC and gave "Garysburgh", as it became known, its new name in 1838, and stayed as such until 1892 when the spelling was officially changed to its current name. During the 1840's the site along the river was abandoned, and people began to settle in a new site not too far away, now present day Garysburg.