This page covers two overlapping sets of books at OCPL: the Orange County works in the index that the library holds, and the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, the library’s wider local history room, from county deed and will abstracts to North Carolina histories. Some books belong to both. Start with the plan of the room, or go straight to either list.
About these counts
The index counts works, not copies or editions: the editions of one book are gathered under one entry, so the library’s own catalog lists more titles than the 357 here. The Wall Collection figure is the library’s inventory of that collection as of September 2026, counted by catalog title; the Orange County works shelved there are in both counts.
The Local History Room
Find your way around the local history room
Find the books, maps, research equipment, and displays of the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection at the Main Library in Hillsborough. The lettered locations below match the plan; tap or hover one to see what stands there.
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Locked cabinet
Fragile items that mending would damage. Above it, a platter Rebecca Wall painted of the law office of Thomas Ruffin, an ancestor of hers, at 201 South Cameron Street, and a pastel portrait of her in her fifties.
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Gray file cabinet
Microfilm of the local newspaper and federal census returns from the 1800s; Orange County court records, vital statistics, tax lists and Confederate soldier records reaching back to the 1700s. On top, a photograph of Rebecca Wall in her twenties and a wooden model of the Burwell School.
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Research computer with microfilm reader and scanner
Read and scan the microfilm here, and search Ancestry and other research sites.
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Genealogy bookshelf, D-1
Historical records of many kinds, color-coded and labeled by county and record type, with books on how to do genealogical research.
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Genealogy bookshelf, D-2
Published family histories, biographies and genealogical journals; the colonial and higher-court records of North Carolina; lives of local figures from William Tryon to John Blackfeather.
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Genealogy bookshelf, D-3
More about Rebecca Wall.
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North Carolina history bookshelf, E-1
North Carolina histories of every kind, from the university and the State Fair to natural history and Durham’s Hayti.
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Reference bookshelf, E-2
Traditional general reference books, still valuable as comprehensive, authoritative sources.
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Framed print: the courthouse
Hope Summerell Chamberlain’s 1926 pen-and-ink rendering of the county courthouse; she was an author, artist and civic worker.
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Framed print: the 1892 county map
George W. Tate’s 1892 map of Orange County.
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Framed print: Hillsborough, County Down
Views of the Irish town the county seat is named for.
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Framed print: the Nash and Kollock School
Chamberlain’s 1926 interpretation of a late-1800s photograph of the school, which stood at 137 West Margaret Lane, the Main Library’s address today.
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Framed print: Hillsborough Military Academy
Uniform buttons from the academy, which ran from 1859 to 1861 off Barracks Road in West Hillsborough; outbuildings still stand.
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Framed print: the 1768 town plan
C. J. Sauthier’s 1768 map of the town of Hillsborough.
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Black file cabinet
Family and local histories researched, compiled and donated by patrons, with local history odds and ends. On top, a model of the county courthouse by Allen Alexander Lloyd (1914 to 2006), lifelong Hillsborough resident and keeper of the town clock, who with his wife Pauline wrote the histories of the town and of its churches that stand in this room.
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Assorted maps
Maps of the county and the town.
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Elizabeth Keckly display
Keckly was enslaved in Hillsborough by her half-brother Robert Burwell, minister of the Presbyterian church and founder of the Burwell School. A seamstress of rare skill, after her emancipation in 1855 she became dressmaker and confidante to Mary Lincoln.
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Elizabeth Keckly display, continued
The second panel of the Keckly display.
On the shelves
Orange County works at OCPL
These works connect to Orange County and are held at OCPL. Search by title, author, or description, or pick a section to browse it in call-number order. Open the catalog record for location and availability.
Reference and bibliography REF, 000 to 099: 4 works as they shelve at OCPL, in call-number order. All 357, with filters by place, theme, and material, in the search →
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History of the Churches of Hillsborough, N.C. Ca., 1766-1962
Lloyd, Pauline O. · 1962
Pauline O. Lloyd's history of the churches of Hillsborough from about 1766 to 1962, nearly two centuries of the town's congregations, with attention to the church buildings themselves. Published in Hillsborough in 1962, 151 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits, and a bibliography on the final page.
Call number REF 275.6 LLOHillsboroughBuildings & PreservationChurches & Faith View in OCPL catalog → -
Orange County, North Carolina: 2030 Comprehensive Plan
2008
The county's long range land use and growth policy document, adopted in 2008 to guide Orange County to the year 2030. Topics include county planning, regional planning and capital investment, with the Board of Commissioners as the adopting body. Planners, property owners and anyone researching how the county decided where growth should go will find the framework set out here.
Call number REF 351.756 ORANGENorth Carolina (statewide)Growth, Land & Planning View in OCPL catalog → -
Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project: Combined Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision
2016
Combined final environmental impact statement and record of decision for the Durham-Orange light rail transit project, the proposed line linking Chapel Hill and Durham. Dating from 2016, it is the federal environmental review document for the corridor, covering transit effects along the route. It concerns environmental impact statements and street railroads for both Chapel Hill and Durham.
Call number REF 388.411 DURHAMChapel HillEno & EnvironmentRoads, Rail & Transportation View in OCPL catalog → -
Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project: Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation
2015
The draft environmental impact statement and draft Section 4(f) evaluation for the Durham-Orange light rail corridor, dated August 2015, the stage of review that precedes a final decision. One volume of various pagings with illustrations and maps, accompanied by a DVD carrying appendices A through N and the federal notice of availability. Topics include local transit and street railroads in Chapel Hill and Durham.
Call number REF 388.411 DURHAMChapel HillEno & EnvironmentRoads, Rail & Transportation View in OCPL catalog →
The Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection
Browse the full Wall Collection
The wider local history collection, named for Rebecca Wall, the retired librarian whose 1986 bequest built it: genealogy, North Carolina history, and regional reference works, alongside the Orange County titles. Browse it shelf by shelf or search by title, author, subject, or description.
Research help, online and in the room
