Chronology

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1. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

2. by 1966
   Founding or opening · Daniel Boone Village, South Churton Street, Hillsborough James J. Freeland opens the Daniel Boone Inn and restaurant at South Churton Street and I-85

   A 1966 plat of the "Daniel Boone Inn and Restaurant Tract", eleven acres lying behind the Shell station on the northeast side of the interchange, shows a pond, a general store, a restaurant later known as the D. B. Cafeteria and a long two-story motel. It was the start of Daniel Boone Village.

3. by 1972
   Founding or opening · Daniel Boone Village, South Churton Street, Hillsborough Daniel Boone Village grows into an amusement park

   By 1972 the Daniel Boone Recreation Park had a roller rink, an ice rink, a ski lift, a refrigerated toboggan slide, an antique car and wax museum, a fort, an amphitheater and a campground, circled by a small railroad on which costumed performers staged holdups. With relocated log cabins and false-front shops it looked like a frontier town, and Freeland was dubbed the "Walt Disney of Hillsborough."

4. late 1970s
   Closing or ending · Daniel Boone Village and Boone Square, South Churton Street, Hillsborough The Daniel Boone amusement park closes and Boone Square replaces its north end

   By the end of the 1970s the rides were gone, leaving only the campground, ice rink and amphitheater, and the northern part of the property was rebuilt as the Boone Square shopping center; a big-box supermarket stood on the ride site by 1983. Daniel Boone Village became a center for antique shops and restaurants, with the Big Barn Convention Center for community events.

5. Recent decades · 1976–2026

6. 1978
   Construction or physical change · Daniel Boone Village, South Churton Street, Hillsborough James J. Freeland moves the Gatewood House from Yanceyville to Daniel Boone Village

   Continuing his habit of relocating old buildings to his South Churton Street development, Freeland brought the Gatewood House from Yanceyville in Caswell County to Daniel Boone Village in 1978.

7. 1989
   Life event · Hillsborough James J. Freeland dies

   The Hillsborough builder, motel owner and developer of Daniel Boone Village died in 1989 at the Highway 70 house he had built in 1964. His children kept Daniel Boone Village and Boone Square.

8. 1998
   Law, policy or court · Daniel Boone Village and Boone Square, South Churton Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough annexes Daniel Boone Village and Boone Square

   About 76 acres of Freeland's South Churton Street complex came into the town limits in 1998, by which time many of its buildings stood empty and the land was seen as ready for redevelopment.

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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 1, 2026.