In 1864 Richard Seccombe built the first mill in Tairua, just upstream from the present wharf. A second, much larger mill, was built nearby in 1878.

Starting from the Tairua Heritage Centre, the northern loop has 9 sites, starting with the old cinema built in the early 1960s and now a hardware store, passes by the old family homestead of the Cory-Wright family built in 1908, and continues around the bay to the base of Paku where there is a cluster of fascinating sites: a very important archaeological site, Tairua's oldest building (now a restaurant), the SS Ngoiro built in 1913 to serve the Waitemata harbour, and the old mill, now a cafe.
The southern loop of the trail also starts at the Heritage Centre and has 15 sites, mostly along the edge of the estuary. This is where the settlement of Tairua began, clustered around the sawmill built by the wharf in 1864. The trail first crosses the Pepe bridge, originally erected in 1911 to facilitate settlement to the north, goes past the community hall to the wharf and returns via the historic cemetery on the Main Road and includes two sites of the Sir George Grey Hotel.

We are a registered charity, dedicated to ensuring that our local history is recorded, protected, promoted, remembered and accessible. Our Heritage Centre at 223 Main Road, Tairua displays information panels, fascinating old maps and documents plus lots of old photographs and that is where you can start our 24-site history trail.