Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. About 1854
   Property or economic transaction · Margaret Lane Cemetery, Hillsborough Peter Brown Ruffin buys the land that became Margaret Lane Cemetery

   According to the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough, Peter Brown Ruffin, owner of Occoneechee Farm, bought the land now called Margaret Lane Cemetery as a burial ground for people enslaved by him and his neighbor Cadwalader Jones. Plaques placed in 1987 date burials there from before 1852, and it remained a burial ground for Black residents of Hillsborough until 1931.

3. April 1865
   Violence or armed conflict · Hillsborough Confederate leaders gather at Hillsborough

   Wade Hampton and Joseph E. Johnston used the Dickson farm on the edge of Hillsborough as a temporary headquarters while Johnston negotiated with Sherman, and Confederate officials including Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge came there to work on terms. Johnston and his staff rode from the Dickson place along the old Hillsborough to Durham road to complete the surrender.

4. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

5. March 1925
   Property or economic transaction · Duke Forest (New Quarry), near Hillsborough The Mayo family's quarry land near Hillsborough is sold to Duke's land agent for $500

   A deed at the Orange County courthouse records that Duke land agent Murray Jones paid the Mayo family $500 in March 1925 for land with a working stone quarry, the source of the stone for Duke's new campus. According to family accounts, George Mayo refused to sell until he was jailed and signed so his family would not go hungry.

6. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

7. 1968
   Protest or organizing · Hillsborough Central High students march and Orange County schools integrate

   In 1968 Black students at Central High School in Hillsborough walked out and marched to protest a plan for phased desegregation. After Central's last class graduated that spring, its high school students moved to Orange High, ending the county's dual school system in 1968–69.

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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.