HOA Management in Hillsborough, NC

Hillsborough’s scenic downtown features more than 100 buildings from the late-18th and 19th centuries and the town has incorporated a Riverwalk along the Eno River for outdoor enthusiasts. With an eye toward this small town charm, William Douglas Property Management has experience negotiating the old and new at the heart of Hillsborough. Whether your neighborhood is historic and subject to specific by-laws preserving original integrity or relatively new and intent upon a more contemporary feel, our expertise will help your HOA achieve its vision.

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Hillsborough, NC Facts & Information

Hillsborough is a municipality located in Orange County, North Carolina. Hillsborough has a town municipal charter. The town is located in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina. Hillsborough is located next to the Eno River. It is located more or less in the center of Orange County and is the county seat. The annual climate is considered moderate.

Hillsborough Early History through the turn of the 20^th Century

The Great Indian Trading Path crossed the Eno River near Hillsborough. The Occaneechi, Shoccoree, and Eno Indians tribes were the first recorded inhabitants of what is now the Orange County area. These Native American peoples were encountered by John Lawson (1674-1711). He was one of the first European explorers of the Carolina backcountry. In 1701, Lawson, while traveling the Great Trading Path, came upon an Occaneechi village. He noted the name of this village as Achonechy in his journal, A New Voyage to Carolina, and he found the village in what would eventually be Orange County. From John Lawson’s book, “Their Cabins were hung with a good sort of Tapestry, as fat Bear, and barbequed or dried Venison; no Indians having greater Plenty of Provisions than these.”

Lawson soon moved on from the Occaneechi village to a village of Shoccoree and Eno Indians. He recorded the name of this village as Adshusheer in his book. This village was situated on the Eno River, near present-day Hillsboro, and was around 14 miles east of the Occaneechi village.

Archaeological excavations and other evidence indicate that the Town of Hillsborough was constructed over the sites of three successive Native American settlements. These Native American settlements dated back to around 1000 to 1710 CE.

The native American tribes in Orange County spoke the Siouan language. By the 1720s, the Native American tribes had either died because of smallpox epidemics, intertribal warfare, or conflicts with settlers. Some of these native Americans migrated to other regions and survived. The surviving Occaneechi left Hillsborough for Virginia, though they returned to the area around 1780.

Settlers of European descent established the future Hillsborough at the site of the former Occaneechi village along the Eno River. Orange County was established in 1752. In 1754, the Town of Orange was to be created as the county seat. The town was laid out by William Churton, a surveyor for Earl Granville, on land where the Great Indian Trading Path crossed the Eno River. Instead of being named Orange, it was first named Corbin Town in honor of Francis Corbin, a member of the governor’s council and one of Granville’s land agents. It was later renamed Childsburgh in honor of Thomas Child, the attorney general for North Carolina from 1751 to 1760 and Granville’s land agent. The town was named Hillsborough in 1766. This was in honor of Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, PC (1718-1793), the Viscount Hillsborough from 1742 to 1751, and as the Earl of Hillsborough from 1751 to 1789. He served as Secretary of State for the American Colonies from 1768 to 1772.

Hillsborough was an early colonial town and county set. The area saw early pre-Revolutionary War discontent among the populace in the form of the Regulator Movement (1766-1771). The Regulator Movement was an uprising by farmers against taxes by the colonial government. The uprising led to the courts being forced to close in Hillsborough and farmers dragging corrupt officials through the streets. Royal North Carolina Governor Tryon led a militia force and defeated the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance on May 16, 1771.

During the American Revolution, the North Carolina Provincial Congress met in Hillsborough from August 20 through September 10, 1775. The North Carolina General Assembly met in Hillsborough in 1778, 1782, and 1783. Hillsborough was the site of the first North Carolina ratifying convention, which met July 21 through August 2, 1788, to debate and determine whether or not to ratify the Constitution recommended to the states by the Constitutional Convention. Five sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly were held in Hillsborough in 1778 and 1784.

As in most of North Carolina, secession from the Union was not universally supported and only reluctantly done as one of the last states to join the Confederacy. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and some of his forces bivouacked on the outskirts of Hillsborough at the Dickson homeplace. The Dickson home in the 1980s was moved to downtown Hillsborough and now is the town welcome center.

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, while he was bivouacked in Raleigh, contacted General Johnston while he was in Hillsborough to discuss the Confederate capitulation. They agreed to meet halfway at Durham Station to discuss surrender terms. Sherman and Johnston met at a farmhouse now known as Bennett Place. They met on April 17, 18, and 26, 1865. Johnston surrendered at the Confederate troops in the south under his command, 89,270 men.

Hillsborough – Some Key Points

Hillsborough’s population, per the 2020 United States Census, was calculated to be 9,660. Per the 2010 United States Census, Hillsborough’s population was calculated to be 6,087. This was a population increase of 58.69 percent between the 2010 and 2020 United States Census.

Hillsborough’s first United States Census was taken in 1800, and the population was determined to be only 474.

Location Coordinates of Hillsborough per Google Earth – Latitude: 36°04′31.53″ N, Longitude: 79°05′59.04″ W

For the Google Earth coordinates noted above, Hillsborough’s elevation above sea level is 547 feet.

Signer of the Declaration of Independence, William Hooper, was buried in the Presbyterian Church cemetery in October of 1790. His remains were later moved and reinterred at the Guilford Court House Military Battlefield. His original gravestone remains in the town cemetery.