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William W. Holden
William Woods Holden was a white attorney, newspaper editor and publisher, and politician born in Orange County, North Carolina, near Hillsborough, in 1818. Preferring journalism to law, Holden apprenticed with Dennis Heartt of the Hillsborough Recorder and later purchased the North Carolina Standard, through which he advocated various causes and became a popular figure in…
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William A. Graham
William Alexander Graham was a white attorney and politician who served as governor of North Carolina from 1845 to 1849. He was educated at a Hillsborough preparatory school and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, practiced law in Hillsborough, and began serving in public office in the 1830s. He served in the…
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Willie P. Mangum
Willie (pronounced “Wylie”) Person Mangum was a white lawyer, judge, and politician. He was born in what is now Durham (then Orange) County, North Carolina, in 1792. He was educated in Hillsborough, Fayetteville, and Raleigh, and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following his education, he practiced law before beginning a career…
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Occaneechi
The Occaneechi, known today as the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation (OBSN), are a Souian Indigenous people descended from those who have lived on the land now known as the North Carolina Piedmont for thousands of years. In the 17th century, the Occaneechi lived in areas that are now parts of Virginia and North…
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Eno Will
Much of what is known about the person called Eno (or Enoe) Will is known through the journals and book, originally published in 1709, of English explorer and surveyor John Lawson. Lawson was employed by North Carolina’s colonial proprietors to explore the inland backcountry of what is now North and South Carolina. Towards the end…
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Clovis Point
Clovis points are stone tools that were made and used by some of the earliest people to inhabit North and South America. These long, thin, and fluted stone points are named after the town of Clovis in New Mexico. Archaeologists uncovered these stone artifacts at a basin called Blackwater Draw near Clovis, where the points…
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Tobacco
The tobacco plant is native to the western hemisphere and has been grown and used by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Europeans began growing tobacco in North Carolina in the mid-1600s, with demand being so high that Virginia and Maryland could not support it alone. Production increased through the 18th and 19th centuries. In…
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Dairy Farms
Dairy was once one of the most important industries in Orange County. In the early 20th century, particularly following the Great Depression, farming started changing in North Carolina, with many people shifting their focus from crops to livestock. As small farms and tenant farmers began disappearing, larger operations appeared using those tracts of land. In…
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Mack P. Efland
Madison “Mack” P. Efland was a white entrepreneur and industrialist born in 1879. Mack was a member of the Efland family, who settled in North Carolina in the 1700s and are the namesake of the town of Efland. The town of Efland began developing considerably at the turn of the 20th century, growing along the…
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John Berry
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