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Searched the full chronology of 6,368 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–5.Back to highlights
- Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799
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James Patterson keeps an inn on the road where Chapel Hill will be laid out
Before the university existed, James Patterson's inn stood near the sharp bend in the road west of the later campus, serving travellers on the two roads that met at New Hope Chapel. It was the only inn on the site when the first village lots were sold in 1793.
People: James Patterson
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James Patterson of Chatham County is hired to build the university's first building
The commissioners contracted with Patterson for 2,500 pounds to build a house about 96 feet long and 40 feet wide. It became Old East, the first building raised on the campus of a state university in the United States.
People: James Patterson
Subject: Old East
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James Patterson buys two lots at the first Chapel Hill lot sale
At the sale held the day Old East's cornerstone was laid, Patterson, the building's contractor, bought village lots 4 and 5 for 108 pounds 10 shillings. The cornerstone procession that day set out from his inn.
Subject: Old East
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Enslaved men owned by contractor James Patterson paint the roof of Old East
James Patterson, the slaveholding contractor who built Old East between 1793 and 1795, reported in a 1795 letter that several of his own enslaved workers had painted the building's roof. Their names were not recorded.
Part of The founding of the University and Chapel Hill, 1789–1795 · 37 events
People: James Patterson
Subject: Old East
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William Nunn buys James Patterson's inn and adds a tavern
Captain William Nunn, a Revolutionary War officer and former Orange County sheriff, bought Patterson's inn. He and his wife Betsy enlarged the rooms for lodgers and added a tavern, and the business stayed in the Nunn family for more than half a century.
People: William Nunn · James Patterson
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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.
