Orange County, North Carolina

Orange County in History:

Orange County, North Carolina, was founded in 1752 and was named for Prince William V of Orange.  A courthouse was authorized several years after and was constructed in the town of Childsburgh, which in 1766 changed its name to Hillsborough in honor of the Earl of Hillsborough, British Secretary of State and one of Royal Governor Tryon's relatives.  Orange County's Hillsborough became North Carolina's state capital for a time during the American Revolution.

The University of North Carolina, which in 1795 became the first state university to open its doors to students, was chartered in 1789 and is located at Chapel Hill in Orange County.

Nearby Carrboro, named after Julian Carr, who purchased a cotton mill and other buildings there, was incorporated in 1911 as the town of West End and was renamed twice after.

When first founded, Orange County was much larger than it is today.  Its original form included the territories of nine present day North Carolina counties.  In 1771, Chatham and Wake Counties were formed from it, and also Guilford County, which itself would later calve Randolph and Rockingham Counties.  The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, a major Revolutionary War engagement, was fought on March 15, 1781 within what is now the city of Greensboro.

Caswell County would be born from Orange County in 1777, and Alamance County in 1849.  The Battle of Alamance occurred just before the Revolutionary War on May 16, 1771, partly as a consequence of people living in that area having to travel so far away to conduct government business at the courthouse in Hillsborough.  Finally, in 1881, Orange would give up more territory to form Durham County, including the Bennett Place site where the Civil War essentially was ended by an agreement between Union General William Sherman and Confederate General Joseph Johnston.

Orange County Today:

Twenty-First Century Orange County is a wonderfully diverse place to live.  Rolling farmland gives way to thriving towns, and the residents of the county, and visitors, can enjoy it all:

• Carrboro, Hillsborough, and Chapel Hill
• Ayr Mount, a Federal-style historic house in Hillsborough
• Chapel Hill Magazine serving Orange County
• Jordan Lake at neighboring Chatham County
• Occoneechee Mountain, the highest elevation between Orange County and the North Carolina coast
• The Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill
• The Alliance For Historic Hillsborough, enhancing our quality of life
• The Burwell School from 1837, one of the earliest female academies in North Carolina
• The Chapel Hill Museum
• Hillsborough Arts Council, serving the artistic and cultural needs of the community for twenty years
• Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill
• News of Orange County our weekly newspaper
• The Orange County Historical Museum in Hillsborough
• The North Carolina Botanical Garden on the UNC Chapel Hill campus
• Preservation Society of Chapel Hill at the Horace Williams House
• Rock of Ages Winery in Hurdle Mills, just over the Person County line
• ...and much, much more!

(Flag image courtesy of FOTW Flags of the World website at http://flagspot.net/flags)