Hillsborough, North Carolina

Hillsborough is a town in and the county seat of Orange County, North Carolina, on the Eno River. Laid out in 1754, it was one of the most important towns in colonial and Revolutionary North Carolina. Its population was 9,660 at the 2020 census.^[1]

History[edit]

Founding and early names[edit]

The site lies on the Eno River near the route of the Great Trading Path, a long-used Native American trading route through the Piedmont. The town was laid out in 1754 by William Churton, a surveyor for Lord Granville, and was first called Corbinton. It was renamed Childsburgh in 1759 and took its present name in 1766, honoring Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, a British official responsible for the American colonies.^[2]

The Regulator movement[edit]

As the seat of a large backcountry county, Hillsborough became a focus of the Regulator movement, a protest by Piedmont farmers against corrupt local officials and excessive fees. In September 1770 Regulators disrupted the court at Hillsborough. After Governor William Tryon's militia defeated the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance in May 1771, six Regulators were hanged at Hillsborough.^[2][3]

Revolution and the 1788 convention[edit]

The Third Provincial Congress met in Hillsborough in August 1775, and the town served at times as a meeting place of the state legislature during the Revolution. British forces under Lord Cornwallis occupied the town in February 1781.^[2] In 1788 a state convention met in Hillsborough to consider the proposed United States Constitution and declined to ratify it, largely because it lacked a bill of rights; North Carolina ratified the Constitution in 1789 at a second convention in Fayetteville.^[3]

Nineteenth century[edit]

Hillsborough remained a legal and political center through the 19th century and was home to a number of prominent state officials, including Governor William A. Graham. Surviving buildings from this period include the Greek Revival Orange County Courthouse (1845), the Burwell School, a girls' school run by the Burwell family, and Ayr Mount, a Federal-style plantation house completed in 1815.^[4]

Historic preservation[edit]

Much of the town's core is protected as a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Alliance for Historic Hillsborough and local museums interpret the town's colonial and Revolutionary history.^[4]

See also[edit]

• Nottatown – Piedmont town in neighboring Caswell County
• Edenton
• List of North Carolina town articles

References[edit]

1. ^ U.S. Census Bureau. 2020 Census of Population and Housing.
2. ^ “Hillsborough.” NCpedia. State Library of North Carolina.
3. ^ North Carolina Office of Archives and History. The Regulators and Hillsborough Convention, highway historical marker essays.
4. ^ North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. National Register of Historic Places nomination files.