Chatham North Carolina

Chatham North Carolina

Founded in 1771 and located at the geographic center of the state, Chatham County NC encompasses an area of more than 707 square miles and is known at the "The Heart of North Carolina." The county is situated between two of the state’s three largest centers of population and commerce, the Triangle Region and the Piedmont Triad.

Pittsboro, the county seat located in the middle of the county, is just 20 minutes away from Research Triangle Park, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill. It also is just 30 minutes from Greensboro and Raleigh. This gives us easy access to Raleigh-Durham Airport and major universities, such as University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Duke University, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, North Carolina A & T University and Elon University.

The county has four incorporated towns within the county: Siler City, Pittsboro (county seat), Goldston and Cary, which has a small area in the eastern part of the county. We also have many unincorporated communities across the county, all of which have a rich history and unique rural features.

Small specialized farms, including organic vegetables and unique nurseries, are important in our county along with tourism, real estate and the arts. Beef cattle and poultry also are important to our agricultural economy.

We have a wide array of artists sprinkled throughout the county that produce high-quality pottery, paintings, sculpture, metalwork, fiber arts, jewelry, yard art and mixed media. However, manufacturing remains the source of jobs for Chatham County.

Chatham County is the home of Jordan Lake, a major recreational lake and water reservoir, but it also has several important rivers, including the Rocky River, the Haw River and the Deep River. The latter two converge to form the Cape Fear River.

Our diverse population includes a mix of both lifelong residents and newcomers, with increasing ethnic/racial diversity. Like most areas, our population is growing older, but we do have an influx of young people as well. We have one of the more highly educated working-age populations in the state

Records show that settlers from Europe arrived in the area as early as the mid 1700s, including a Quaker settlement formed in 1751. Early settlers entered from the north through a trading route of the Catawba Indians and from the south through the Cape Fear River Valley.

The Colonial Assembly established Chatham County NC through legislation introduced on December 5, 1770, which was effective on April 1, 1771. The county was formed from a portion of what was once Orange County. The county was named for the Earl of Chatham, William Pitt, who was a "defender of American rights in the British Parliament."

The legislation forming Chatham County NC noted that the new county was needed to provide greater access to inhabitants living in the southern part of the county. It was too difficult and expensive for those residents to travel to the Orange County government seat (Hillsborough) to conduct business.

In the early years, the county was governed by justices of the peace, which served the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. The justices were appointed by the state’s General Assembly. For a period of time, the justices also appointed other county officials, which included the sheriff, coroner, constables, clerk, register, county attorney, standard-keeper, entry-taker and surveyor, rangers (which dealt with stray animals), and overseers of roads.

Reconstruction and the new State Constitution of 1868 established a five-member board of county commissioners, divided the county into townships, and radically changed the court system. Justices of the peace were eliminated from county government in 1894.

In 1977, the county adopted the council-manager form of government and appointed the first county manager. We now have five county commissioners elected to four-year staggered terms. They must reside in specific districts but are elected by voters at large.

The county was named for the Earl of Chatham in England, who was William Pitt…now you know how Pittsboro also got its name.
Jordan Lake is named for Benjamin Everett, a former United States senator from our state.

Moncure once served as the western-most inland port in the state, linked all the way to the coast by steamships.
Those steamships often brought tourists from the coast escaping the heat and mosquitoes of summer. They often stayed in Pittsboro, which was a resort destination during this time.
British General Cornwallis camped in Pittsboro during the Revolutionary War.

The community of Bonlee was originally called Dunlap Mills, but changed its name after having a town contest.

The Camelback Truss Bridge is an historic bridge that remains in place over the Deep River and connects us to Lee County, but it no longer carries highway traffic. It has been preserved as a park by a group of committed citizens initiated by Margaret Jordan-Ellis.

This historic marker on US 15/501 commemorates the amazing accomplishments of George Moses Horton, a slave who was an accomplished poet well before he learned to read and write.
Photo by Duane Hall

Locks on the Deep River once were used to transport coal to the coast.

Goldston once had a movie theater on the second floor of what is now Miller Heating and Air.

George Moses Horton, who lived most of his life as a slave in the county, is Chatham County's official poet. He composed many poems before he learned to read and write, but published the first book by a Southern black author, The Hope of Liberty (1829). A University of North Carolina faculty member's wife taught him to read and write in 1828 and arranged the initial publication of his poems. Horton tried several times to buy his freedom from slavery, but was only freed at the end of the Civil War. A book on Horton, The Black Bard of North Carolina: George Moses Horton and His Poetry, is still available through local bookstores.

Tod R. Edwards was a prominent early resident of Siler City. This African-American leader owned a well-respected jewelry and watch repair store and photography shop, but he started out as a barber.

Miscellaneous Chatham County Facts:

Siler City still has an operating stockyard auction house.

The nation’s leading bicycle mail order and retail company, Performance Bicycles, is located in Chatham County.

The county has several traditional artists tours, including the Tour de Moncure (held in partnership with Moore County) and the Annual Studio Tour.

The county generally ranks between fifteenth and seventeenth in the state in terms of land size, depending on the source of information.

The Carnivore Preservation Trust, located just east of Pittsboro, houses several wild animals, but it has the largest captive population of Asian bearcats in the nation.

Chatham County NC has one of only two Five-Diamond rated hotel and restaurant (ratings by AAA) in the entire state--The Fearrington House Inn and Restaurant.

Piedmont Biofuels Cooperative in Pittsboro has been recognized nationally for its innovative approach to producing alternative fuels from renewable resources.

Source: Chatham County NC

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