The following was complied from various sources and provided by the Chapel Hill, Orange County Visitors Bureau

Orange County

As of 2000, the population of Orange County was 118,227. The county encompasses about 400 square miles, 25% of which is undeveloped.

Orange County was assembled in 1752 from land in Bladen, Granville and Johnston Counties. In addition to the major towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, Orange County has more than two dozen unincorporated communities.

Before Orange County was founded in 1752, five Native-American tribes lived in the area. One was the Eno-Occaneechi Indian tribe, many of whose descendants still live in the Hillsborough area.

In 1767, Orange County was the most populated county in the Colony (more than 3500 ?white taxable males?), with an area so large that the northern boundary extended to the Virginia line.

Orange County was named for William Ill (who ruled England from 1689 to 1702) or the infant William V (whose mother, Anne, daughter of George II, controlled affairs of state at the time). Both were of ?the House of Orange?.

All of the Orange County Court minutes from 1766 to 1777 are missing.

Agriculture

Of the 254,720 acres of land that make up Orange County, 49,640 acres (19.5%) are used for farming.

Total Orange County farm income in 1997 totaled $34.1-million.

The county?s top agricultural commodities in 1997 by revenue were Grade A milk; tobacco and field crops; eggs; nursery and greenhouse products; livestock; and forestry products. Others include corn, feed grains, poultry, soybeans and hogs.
The 23 dairy farms located in Orange County produce about 50-million pounds of milk each year, and sell enough dairy animals to bring in revenues of more than $8.2-million.

The major tobacco-growing area of Orange County is Cedar Grove township.

Some of the county?s more exotic agricultural enterprises include a shitake mushroom and truffle farm, and a miniature donkey and mule farm.

The truffle farm, located off Orange Grove Road near Hillsborough, is one of only two in the United States, because this fancy fungus is particular about where it will grow.

An increasingly urban population in Orange County is stimulating the growth of certain farm enterprises. These include thoroughbred horses, hay (mainly for horses), nursery and greenhouse plants, turf production and wool (for hand spinners).

Multiflora Greenhouses, located just northeast of Hillsborough, is one of the largest commercial flower, plant and vegetable greenhouses in North Carolina. Its automated greenhouses, with heated concrete floors and computerized climate-controlled systems, take up five acres, comparable to more than seven football fields!

Orange County is fast becoming known as the ?sauce capital of the south,? because of the number of companies based here that produce, package and distribute this specialty food.

Group tours of farms in the county can be arranged by calling the Orange County Cooperative Extension Service (CES) at (919) 245-2050.

Hillsborough

Hillsborough is the seat of Orange County. As of 2000, the population was 5,446.

Hillsborough was laid out in 1754 by William Churton on 400 acres where the Occaneechi Indian Trading Path crossed the Eno River.

Hillsborough originally was called Corbinton in honor of Francis Corbin, a Colonial official. When the village was incorporated in 1759, the name was changed to Childsburgh in honor of then-State Attorney General Thomas Childs. Its third and final name was adopted in 1766 in honor of Wills Hills, who was the Earl of Hillsborough at the time.

Hillsborough has been called ?a museum without walls?. Its historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and boasts more than 100 late 18th and early 19th Century structures.

Hillsborough was the site of the momentous North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1788, during which the convention delegates refused to ratify the Constitution until it included a Bill of Rights.

The Old Orange County Courthouse has been cited by the Library of Congress as one of the finest examples of Greek-Revival architecture in the United States. It was built in 1844 and was the fourth structure on the site, after two Colonial courthouses (ca. 1755 and 1782), a gaol (jail), the gaoler?s house and kitchen, a Market-House, and whipping post and stocks.

The Old Town Clock in the cupola of the present courthouse is said to have been a royal gift to the town in 1769. It hung first in St. Matthews Church of England (now the Presbyterian Church), then the tower of the Market-House.

The ?new? bell installed in the Old Orange County Courthouse in April 1997 was actually cast in 1747 and previously hung in St. Luke?s Church in Cannock (Staffordshire), England. The old bell, reportedly given to the town in 1769 by an emissary of King George Ill of England, is now on display inside the courthouse.

A stone marker on the southeast corner of North Churton and East King Street in downtown Hillsborough, dated March 17, 1776, marks the spot where Daniel Boone led a small band of settlers to Kentucky, a virtual wilderness then. They were fleeing the unrest in the 13 colonies before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Daniel Boone went on to become a trailblazer and legendary frontiersman. A number of Hillsborough facilities, including the Daniel Boone Village on South Churton Street, are named for him.

The Old Town Cemetery was included in William Churton?s town plan of 1754 and laid out as a public burial ground in 1757. It contains the graves of
? Governor William A. Graham, Secretary of the U.S. Navy and Senator of both the U.S. and Confederate States;
? James Hogg, Scotch merchant and patriot who negotiated land purchases for the University of North Carolina;
? Wriliam Hooper, one of North Carolina?s three signers of the Declaration of Independence (his remains were later moved to Guilford Battleground National Park);
? Archibald DeBow Murphey, father of public education in North Carolina; and
? Chief Justice Frederick Nash (among others).

The Colonial Inn, a historic bed and breakfast inn in Hillsborough (currently being renovated), is one of the oldest continuously operated inns in America. It evolved from Spencer?s Tavern, built in 1838, although its origins can be traced back to 1759.

The Masonic Lodge on West King Street (ca. 1823) was once used as an opera house, astronomical observatory and Civil War hospital. It was designed in the Greek-Revival style by William Nichols, former state architect, (Formerly, the site was occupied by
the home of Colonel Edmund Fanning, Orange County Register of Deeds.)

The state?s first paper mill and a gun factory were located at Tyaquin, the estate of Thomas Burke, the state?s third governor, who was also a doctor, lawyer and poet. He died on December 2, 1783, and was buried just north of town on Governor Burke Road.

The only complete set of Colonial weights and measures in the U.S. can be found at the Orange County Historical Museum.

Daniel Boone Village was developed in 1965 by James J. Freeland, a long-time resident of Hillsborough. When he set out to develop the village, he envisioned a large recreational area primarily for residents of Orange County. Today, it?s a unique collection of nearly 30 antique stores, shops, boutiques and service establishments.

The Triangle SportsPlex, which opened in March 1995, is a community sports and recreation complex located just east of town. It contains Olympic-size and recreational swimming pools, a professional ice hockey and skating rink, pro shop with skates to rent, weight-training and aerobics center, meeting rooms and a snack bar.

More than two tons (or 4,000 pounds) of North Carolina barbecue are eaten during the annual Hillsborough Hog Day festival in June, first held in 1983, which attracts more than 25,000 people.

The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough was formed in 1991 as an umbrella agency to represent six cooperative historic, preservation and business organizations. It manages the Orange County Visitors Center in the historic Alexander Dickson House (c. 1790) at 150 East King Street in Hillsborough. It?s open Mon-Sat., 10-4, and Sun., 1-4. The phone number is (919) 732-7741.