Chronology

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1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

2. 1782
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough Alfred Moore prosecutes at Hillsborough and is made attorney general

   Acting as prosecutor in several major cases at Hillsborough while the state attorney general was away, Alfred Moore of Wilmington did well enough to be appointed attorney general that same year. He held the office until 1790 and built Moorefields west of Hillsborough while serving.

3. February 1, 1782
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Three of David Fanning's men are hanged at Hillsborough

   Seven captured raiders were tried before Judge John Williams, with Alfred Moore prosecuting and William R. Davie defending in his first case. Three were hanged despite Fanning's threats, and Burke commuted the other four sentences to a year in the Continental army.

4. about 1785
   Construction or physical change · Moorefields Alfred Moore of Wilmington builds Moorefields near Hillsborough as a summer home

   Moore, whom President John Adams later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, built Moorefields as his summer place. Local tradition held that Senator Thomas Hart Benton and Mrs. Henry Clay were born there, but both were born before the house was built, on Hart and Benton family land somewhat to the north.

5. July 1791
   Naming or commemoration · Chapel Hill Trustees adopt a university seal showing Apollo and the rising sun

   A committee of James Hogg, Alfred Moore and John Haywood, given sole power to choose a device for the corporation's seal, picked the face of Apollo with the rising sun, meant to stand for the dawn of higher education in the state.

6. December 1792
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill A trustee committee under Samuel McCorkle reports the university's first plan of studies

   Named at New Bern on December 4, 1792, the committee proposed teaching languages with English first, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, botany, agriculture and architecture, and buying scientific apparatus. A newspaper notice of December 12 inviting teachers for this course drew no applicants.

7. July 1793
   Statistic or record · Orange County Orange County leads the state in pledges to the university

   By July, Davie and Willie Jones reported 909 pounds 4 shillings pledged in Orange against 804 pounds in Halifax, out of $6,723 statewide. William Cain and Walter Alves of Orange were among the three largest subscribers at $200 each, and Jesse Neville of Orange gave $100.

8. August 10, 1793
   Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill Commissioners mark out the sites of the university's buildings and grounds

   Davie, Alfred Moore, Alexander Mebane and Thomas Blount met on the Chapel Hill tract and fixed the building sites, with land set aside for offices, avenues and ornamental grounds.

9. October 12, 1793
   Property or economic transaction · Chapel Hill The first town lots in Chapel Hill are sold at auction

   After the Old East cornerstone was laid, the commissioners auctioned the village lots on the spot; 29 lots brought more than 1,500 pounds, and one was held back for the president's house.

10. July 13, 1795
    Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill UNC holds its first public examination, announced by Governor Spaight

    The University's first public examination took place at Chapel Hill on July 13, 1795, after notice appeared in the newspapers over the signature of Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight. The governor's wife, Mary Spaight, was the only woman present, and about a dozen men attended, including William R. Davie, James Hogg, Alfred Moore and James Glasgow.

11. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

12. October 15, 1810
    Property or economic transaction · Moorefields, near Hillsborough Justice Alfred Moore dies and leaves Moorefields to his son

    Former U.S. Supreme Court justice Alfred Moore, builder of Moorefields, died and willed the house to his son Alfred, a lawyer who went on to serve in the House of Commons and as its speaker in 1823-1824.

13. About 1827
    Chapel Hill Trustees name Badger, Yancey and Moore to draft a law against liquor and student credit at Chapel Hill

    On President Caldwell's motion the trustees named Bartlett Yancey, George E. Badger and Alfred Moore to prepare a bill forbidding the distilling or selling of spirituous liquors at or near Chapel Hill and barring village merchants from trading with students. It became law; Battle says the liquor ban still stood in 1907 while the trading ban was ignored and later repealed.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.