Chronology

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1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

2. 1779
   Property or economic transaction · The Mountain (now Meadowmont), east of Chapel Hill Christopher Barbee buys his brother Francis's share of their father's land grant east of Chapel Hill

   Christopher Barbee buys from his brother Francis the western half of the 585-acre grant their father William Barbee took up in 1753, which included the hilltop later called The Mountain. Barbee made his plantation there, and a stone foundation at Meadowmont is thought to be his house.

3. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

4. 1831
   Chapel Hill Christopher Barbee turns over his home tract and blacksmith shop to his son William

   In 1831 Christopher Barbee sold his son William the village blacksmith property and the tract where he lived, with all adjacent land. He died the next year, and his will left William more land on Morgan Creek and Bolin Creek.

5. January 22, 1834
   Property or economic transaction · The Mountain (now Meadowmont), east of Chapel Hill A notice offers Christopher Barbee's livestock and household goods for sale at his late home

   Two years after Christopher Barbee died, a public notice offered his horses, cattle, corn, farm tools and household and kitchen furniture for sale at his late residence on The Mountain. His son William was the executor.

6. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

7. fall 1921
   Construction or physical change · Battle Park, along Battle Branch, Chapel Hill UNC completes a sewage disposal plant in Battle Park for the Park Place faculty houses

   Built with convict labor under T. C. Atwood, the plant on Battle Branch treated waste from the new Park Place faculty houses and nearby homes the town mains did not reach. It was reported complete and in service by October 12, 1921.

8. July 1928
   Closing or ending · Battle Park, Chapel Hill A new pipe line to the town plant ends the Battle Park sewage plant

   Under an agreement among the university, the town and the Gimghouls, a pipe line to the municipal plant in Strowd's lowgrounds was finished, and the park's disposal plant was abandoned so the woods could be restored.

9. April 10, 1931
   Protest or organizing · Battle Park, Chapel Hill Townspeople and faculty form the Battle Park Association at Joseph Hyde Pratt's home

   A meeting at Colonel Pratt's home launched a volunteer group to restore Kemp Battle's paths and bridges in Battle Park. By the end of 1931 it had cleared old walks, opened about three miles of trail and rebuilt the bridges.

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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 4, 2026.