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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,368 dated events and 63 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis.

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11 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,368 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–11.Back to highlights

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11 dated events
1782Revolution and early republic
  1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799
  2. Alfred Moore prosecutes at Hillsborough and is made attorney general

    Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough

    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.

    People: Alfred Moore

  3. Three of David Fanning's men are hanged at Hillsborough

    Law, policy or court · 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.

    People: Thomas Burke · David Fanning · William Richardson Davie · Alfred Moore

  4. Alfred Moore of Wilmington builds Moorefields near Hillsborough as a summer home

    Construction or physical change · Moorefields

    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.

    People: Alfred Moore

    Subject: Moorefields

  5. Trustees adopt a university seal showing Apollo and the rising sun

    Naming or commemoration · Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: James Hogg · John Haywood · Alfred Moore

  6. A trustee committee under Samuel McCorkle reports the university's first plan of studies

    Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: David Stone · Samuel Ashe · Hugh Williamson · Samuel Eusebius McCorkle · Alfred Moore

  7. Orange County leads the state in pledges to the university

    Statistic or record · Orange County

    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.

    People: Willie Jones · Walter Alves · William Richardson Davie · Alfred Moore

  8. Commissioners mark out the sites of the university's buildings and grounds

    Construction or physical change · Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: Thomas Blount · William Richardson Davie · Alexander Mebane · Alfred Moore

  9. The first town lots in Chapel Hill are sold at auction

    Property or economic transaction · Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: Thomas Blount · William Richardson Davie · Alexander Mebane · Alfred Moore

  10. UNC holds its first public examination, announced by Governor Spaight

    Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: James Hogg · William Richardson Davie · Alfred Moore

  11. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865
  12. Justice Alfred Moore dies and leaves Moorefields to his son

    Property or economic transaction · Moorefields, near Hillsborough

    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.

    People: Alfred Moore

    Subject: Moorefields

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

    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.

    People: Alfred Moore · Joseph Caldwell

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A dated event is a fact, filed on the page of the subject it belongs to: a person, a place, a theme, or a named event or history. Pages are subjects, with their own works and sources; the Place, community, or institution filter also gathers the institutions that recur in the entries without a page of their own. The page opens on the highlights; a search or any filter looks through every dated event and storyline, and each filter’s counts say how many entries choosing it would show alongside the others. A storyline is a longer history that gathers related dated events, and each storyline’s page lists its own. Counts give dated events and storylines separately. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. The correction link under the entries opens the contact form; name the entry and its date and the Friends will check the source. Suggest an event →

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.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026