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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. February 20, 1919
   Construction or physical change · University of North Carolina campus, Chapel Hill Planner John Nolen delivers a campus plan for the university

   Hired by the university's new buildings committees, John Nolen produced a campus plan in February 1919 that laid out fourteen new buildings, among them classrooms, a gymnasium and three dormitories. The university then engaged McKim, Mead and White and local architects to carry it out.

3. 1920-1925
   Founding or opening · UNC Extension Division, Chapel Hill William C. Coker directs a university bureau for school grounds

   Coker set up and ran the UNC Extension Division's Bureau of Design and Improvement of School Grounds, which sent plans and a field assistant to schools around the state; 33 towns were helped in 1920-21. In 1921 the bureau began advising on home and factory grounds as well.

4. December 14, 1922
   Appointment, election or service · University of North Carolina campus, Chapel Hill William C. Coker's committee is put in charge of the care of the whole campus

   After Coker drew his 'Plan A' for siting dormitories on the campus's east side, the grounds and buildings committee in December 1922 gave him and a subcommittee charge of the care and improvement of the entire campus, with its own budget. The nomination calls him in effect the university's first resident planner.

5. 1926
   Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill T. Felix Hickerson publishes Highway Curves and Earthworks

   UNC civil engineering professor Thomas Felix Hickerson, who laid out the curving roads of Rocky Ridge Farm, first published his road design text in 1926. Later issued as Route Location and Design, it was used in engineering programs at some 83 colleges.

6. from 1927
   Law, policy or court · Rocky Ridge Farm (Laurel Hill), Chapel Hill William C. Coker's Rocky Ridge lot deeds restrict the race of residents

   In selling the lots of his Rocky Ridge Farm development, Coker wrote covenants into the deeds that set the number of buildings, the cost of houses and, in the early deeds, the race of the residents. These private restrictions governed the neighborhood before Chapel Hill had residential zoning.

7. 1928-1940
   Construction or physical change · Rocky Ridge Farm (Laurel Hill), Chapel Hill, Country Club Road, Laurel Hill Road and Laurel Hill Circle Black stonemasons build the stone walls of Rocky Ridge Farm

   The curving walls of random-coursed stone that line Country Club Road, Laurel Hill Road and Laurel Hill Circle were built alongside the houses by local Black masons, among them James Blackwell and Jesse Jones.

8. about 1928
   Construction or physical change · Gustav Harrer House, 601 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill Gustav Harrer builds a shingled house on Laurel Hill Road

   The Harrer house, a two-story, L-shaped Colonial Revival dwelling with shingle siding, is one of the first houses of Rocky Ridge Farm's opening building period, 1928-30.

9. about 1929
   Construction or physical change · Preston Farrar House, 114 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill Drama professor Preston Farrar builds a house with an outdoor stage on Laurel Hill Road

   UNC drama professor Preston Farrar built a two-story stucco house in the manner of an English cottage. It had indoor and outdoor stages for rehearsals and small productions, including a stone terrace used as a theatre, and a specimen garden.

10. about 1930
    Construction or physical change · Russell Gruman House, 103 Laurel Hill Circle, Chapel Hill Russell Gruman builds a Dutch Colonial house on Laurel Hill Circle

    A gambrel-roofed Dutch Colonial Revival house of rough brick and shingle, with a matching garage, went up for Russell Gruman at the close of the district's first building period.

11. about 1937
    Construction or physical change · Daniel Huston Buchanan House, 106 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill Daniel Huston Buchanan builds a two-story house with a gallery on Laurel Hill Road

    The Buchanan house, of stone and weatherboard with a two-story pedimented gallery, is one of the Colonial Revival houses of Rocky Ridge Farm's second building period, 1936-40.

12. about 1937
    Construction or physical change · Dudley Carroll House, 306 Country Club Road, Chapel Hill Dudley Carroll builds a red brick house on Country Club Road

    A red brick Colonial Revival house with an asymmetrical front and a fanlighted entry went up for Dudley Carroll in Rocky Ridge Farm's second building period.

13. about 1938
    Construction or physical change · Carl Pegg House, 403 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill Durham architects Hackney and Knott design Carl Pegg's house on Laurel Hill Road

    A three-bay brick Colonial Revival house for Carl Pegg was designed by the Durham firm of Hackney and Knott in the district's second building period.

14. about 1939
    Construction or physical change · James Clarence Andrews House, 5 Buttons Road, Chapel Hill Architect Bradford Eddy designs James Clarence Andrews's house on Buttons Road

    A two-story shingled Colonial Revival house for James Clarence Andrews was designed by Bradford Eddy, an architect who practiced outside North Carolina.

15. 1939
    Construction or physical change · Earl Brown House, 401 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill Harold W. Brown of the public health faculty builds a red brick house on Laurel Hill Road

    Dr. Harold W. Brown, the parasitologist who joined the public health faculty in 1937 and was dean of the School of Public Health from 1941 to 1943, built a two-story red brick house that mixes Colonial Revival and Cotswold features. The Fletcher M. Greens bought it in 1943, when Brown left for Columbia.

16. about 1939
    Construction or physical change · Glen Haydon House, 303 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill Music department chair Glen Haydon builds a brick house on Laurel Hill Road

    Glen Haydon, chair of the UNC music department, built a two-story brick and weatherboard Colonial Revival house with a stone retaining wall.

17. about 1939
    Construction or physical change · William Couch House, 603 Laurel Hill Road, Chapel Hill UNC Press editor William Couch builds a brick and stone house on Laurel Hill Road

    William Couch, editor of the University of North Carolina Press and brother of botanist John N. Couch, built a two-story brick and stone Colonial Revival house with a two-story gallery, designed by William Sprinkle.

18. about 1940
    Construction or physical change · John J. Wright House, 105 Laurel Hill Circle, Chapel Hill Architect Eugene Stroud designs physician John J. Wright's house on Laurel Hill Circle

    A two-story, three-bay shingled Colonial Revival house was built for physician John J. Wright to a design by Eugene Stroud.

19. about 1940
    Construction or physical change · Dudley Cowden House, 304 Country Club Road, Chapel Hill Dudley Cowden builds a galleried house with a specimen garden on Country Club Road

    The Cowden house is a two-story frame Colonial Revival dwelling with a two-story stone west wing, a front gallery, a stone terrace, a stone garage and a formal specimen garden.

20. about 1940
    Construction or physical change · Frances Gardham House, 309 Country Club Road, Chapel Hill William Sprinkle designs Frances Gardham's house on Country Club Road

    Frances Gardham's Colonial Revival house with vernacular details is one of three Rocky Ridge Farm houses the nomination credits to architect William Sprinkle.

21. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

22. 1954
    Property or economic transaction · The Pinetum, Meeting of the Waters Creek, Rocky Ridge Farm, Chapel Hill The Pinetum at Rocky Ridge Farm is deeded to the university's botanical garden

    A protected stand of Coker's remaining forest along Meeting of the Waters Creek on the west edge of the development, known as the Pinetum, was deeded in 1954 to the UNC botanical garden for its care.

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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 4, 2026.