Chatham County ( )Talk Like A Tar Heel , from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 25, 2012. is a county located in the Piedmont area of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is also the location of the geographic center of North Carolina, northwest of Sanford. As of the 2020 census, the population was 76,285. Its county seat is Pittsboro.
Chatham County is part of the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC Combined Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023.
History
Some of the first European settlers of what would become the county were English Quakers, who settled along the Haw and Eno rivers. The county was formed in 1771 from Orange County. It had been named in 1758 for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, who served as British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1768 and opposed harsh colonial policies. In 1907, parts of Chatham County and Moore County were combined to form Lee County.
The county did not have a county seat until 1778 when Chatham Courthouse was built. It was not until 1787 that it was renamed Pittsboro. In 1781, Chatham Courthouse was located the south side of Robeson Creek, where the Horton Middle school is currently located. The Chatham Courthouse was the site of an engagement during the American Revolution on July 17, 1781. On July 16, 1781, Patriot leaders had tried and sentenced to hang several Loyalist leaders. Hearing of their fate, Loyalist leader Colonel David Fanning and his men encircled Chatham Courthouse and took 53 prisoners including Colonel Ambrose Ramsey, some local militia, and three members of the North Carolina General Assembly.
While not devoted to large plantations, the county was developed for small farms, where slave labor was integral to the owners' productivity and success. By 1860 one-third of the county population were African Americans, chiefly enslaved.
Moncure, located at the confluence of the Deep and Haw rivers forming the Cape Fear River, once served as the westernmost inland port in the state. Steamships could travel between it and the Atlantic Coast along that major river.
After the Civil War and emancipation, white violence against freedmen increased in an assertion of white supremacy and enforced dominance after emancipation. From the late 1860s secret terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, Constitutional Union Guard, and White Brotherhood were active against blacks in the county. After Reconstruction and into the early 20th century, a total of six lynchings of African Americans were recorded here. Harriet Finch, Jerry Finch, Lee Tyson, John Pattishall on September 30, 1885. Harriet Finch is 1 of only 4 lynchings of women to occur in North Carolina. Henry Jones was lynched on January 12, 1899, after being accused of raping and murdering Nancy Welch/Welsh, a white widow in Chatham County. The sixth person to be lynched was Eugene Daniel who was hanged and then had his body riddled with bullets on September 18, 1921.
There was a notorious mass lynching of four African Americans on September 29, 1885, who were taken from the county jail in Pittsboro by a disguised mob at 1 am. The mob of 50–100 people hanged and killed Jerry Finch, his wife Harriet, and Lee Tyson, arrested for a robbery/murder.Patrick J. Huber, "Caught Up in the Violent Whirlwind of Lynching": The 1885 Quadruple Lynching in Chatham County, North Carolina , The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 75, No. 2 (April 1998), pp. 135–160. Retrieved June 9, 2018 Harriet Finch was one of four black women to be lynched in the state.Bruce E. Baker, "Lynching" , 2006, Encyclopedia of North Carolina, ed. by William S. Powell. Retrieved June 9, 2018 They also hanged John Pattishall, who was awaiting trial for two other unrelated robbery/murders.Sarah Burke, "Without Due Process: Lynching in North Carolina 1880–1900" , Explorations, n.d., University of North Carolina Wilmington. Retrieved June 9, 2018 Afterward, the editor of The Chatham Record strongly condemned the lynchings. The county had the second-highest total of lynchings in the state, a number equaled by two other counties in this period.Lynching in America , 3rd ed., Supplement: Lynching by County, p. 7, Montgomery, Alabama: Equal Justice Initiative, 2017
In 1977, the county adopted a council-manager form of government and hired a county manager. On March 25, 2010, the Chatham County Courthouse, built in 1881 in the county seat of Pittsboro, caught fire while undergoing renovations. It has now been rebuilt.
Coal mining Spanning the southern border of Chatham County, the Deep River Coal Field contains the only known potentially economic bituminous coal deposits in the state. Coal was mined here on an artisan scale in colonial times. It was commercially produced beginning from the early 1850s.
The communities of Carbonton and Cumnock (formerly called Egypt in Lee County) developed with the coal mining industry. Much of the coal mined in the field during the Civil War was used for Confederate operations.
The Coal Glen mine disaster of the 1920s, frequent flooding by the Deep River, the depth of the coal seam, and faulting of the seam sealed the fate of the mines. Production ceased in 1953.
Agriculture and industry The county was long dependent on agriculture as the basis of the economy, and there were numerous subsistence farmers in historic times. The area's natural soil conditions (composed mostly of the hard red clay soil common to the Piedmont) did not support the cultivation of commodity cash crops such as tobacco; this was never important in the county's economy. As a result, settlers held fewer slaves than in some areas of the state, but by 1860 enslaved African Americans constituted about one-third of the county population. The production of livestock has always been more important to the county, especially the breeding of cattle and poultry.
The county once had a thriving dairy industry, but in recent years most farms have been sold and developed.
Chatham County has a deep tradition in southern music. Tommy Thompson, of the Red Clay Ramblers, and Tommy Edwards have entertained for decades with traditional, old time and bluegrass. Artists in many styles of music have emerged, from rock and roll to big band. Of late, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance hosts various styles of music. A four-day outdoor festival is held twice each year, in April and October. Shakori Hills is also the location of the Hoppin John Fiddlers Convention and Mountain Aid benefit concert.
Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.84%) is water.
The county lies totally within the Piedmont physiographic region. The topography of the county is generally gently rolling with several higher hills rising above the general terrain. One of these hills, Terrells Mountain, on the Orange County line is the transmitter site for several radio and TV stations for the Raleigh-Durham market, including WUNC-TV 4, WDCG (G105), WNCB (B93.9), and WUNC 91.5 FM (NC Public Radio).
The county lies within the Cape Fear River drainage basin. The Cape Fear River begins in the county near the community of Moncure, at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River below Jordan Lake. B. Everett Jordan Lake, a major reservoir and flood-control lake, is located within the New Hope River basin and lies mainly in eastern Chatham County. The lake is owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers and is partially leased by the state of North Carolina as Jordan Lake State Recreation Area.
Much of the eastern part of the county lies within the Triassic Basin, a subregion of the Piedmont. Much of the bedrock in the county is volcanic in origin and formed during the Triassic period (hence the name). The Triassic origins have led to the formation of coal deposits in the southern part of the county. The Boren Clay Products Pit just north of Gulf in extreme southern Chatham County is a place where Triassic flora fossils persist. The volcanic origins also led to the creation of high amounts of metamorphic-based rocks in the county. The county lies on the Carolina Slate Belt. Soils in the county are mostly clay based and have a deep red color, as do most soils in the Piedmont. Groundwater in the county is generally full of minerals and tends to be "hard" if not softened. Mineral-based water was the attraction at Mt. Vernon Springs during the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. A resort spa was established at the mineral springs. Visitors would drink the water in the hopes of curing ailments and diseases. The resort closed in the early 20th century and is now gone. The springs are still there and are maintained by a local church.
The county has a humid subtropical climate and experiences hot and humid summers and cold winters.
Water bodies
B. Everett Jordan Lake Bear Creek Brush Creek Cape Fear River Deep River Harlands Creek Haw River Landrum Creek Little Brush Creek Loves Creek New Hope Creek Roberson Creek Rocky River Shearon Harris Reservoir Tick Creek Varnell Creek Wilkinson Creek
Adjacent counties Durham County Orange County Alamance County Wake County Harnett County Lee County Moore County Randolph County
Parks and recreation In addition to those mentioned below, the communities of Pittsboro, Siler City, and Goldston operate parks and other recreation facilities.
State parks, game land, trails, and recreation areas Chatham Game Land Deep River State Trail Harris Game Land (part) Jordan Game Land (part) Jordan Lake Educational State Forest Jordan Lake State Recreation Area (including Crosswinds Campground, Ebenezer Church, Parker's Creek, Poplar Point, Seaforth area, Vista Point, Robeson Creek, New Hope Overlook, and White Oak Recreation Areas) Lee Game Land (part) Lower Haw River State Natural Area Robeson Creek Boat Access Robeson Creek Paddle Access
County parks, trails, and recreation areas 15-501 Haw River Canoe Access American Tobacco Trail Briar Chapel Sports Park Bynum Beach Haw River Paddle Access Earl Thompson Park Northeast District Park Northwest District Park Southeast District Park Southwest Community Park US 64 Haw River Paddle Access
Other attractions Carnivore Preservation Trust Condoret Nature Preserve Crosswinds Marina Deep River Park and the Deep River Camelback Truss Bridge Irvin Nature Preserve La Grange Riparian Reserve McIver Landing New Hope Valley Railway Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival White Pines Nature Preserve (part) Wood's Mill Bend
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Chatham County, North Carolina – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)24,15829,19435,32245,18553,08772.30%75.32%71.60%71.15%69.59%Black or African American alone (NH)8,9088,7948,3558,2727,76826.66%22.69%16.94%13.03%10.18%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)321231581631730.10%0.32%0.32%0.26%0.23%Asian alone (NH)35682866941,6160.10%0.18%0.58%1.09%2.12%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census111524xx0.02%0.02%0.03%Other race alone (NH)1616521293080.05%0.04%0.11%0.20%0.40%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census4028192,937xx0.81%1.29%3.85%Hispanic or Latino (any race)2665644,7438,22810,3720.80%1.46%9.62%12.96%13.60%Total33,41538,75949,32963,50576,285 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, there were 76,285 people, 31,288 households, and 21,406 families residing in the county.