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Natural feature in Orange County

Haw River

The river flows southeast through Alamance and Chatham counties, both carved from Orange, to meet the Deep River and form the Cape Fear. Its valley was the western country of colonial Orange County.

Source: NCpedia, North Carolina Gazetteer

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In the chronology

Storylines about Haw River, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineThe Hawfields, Cross Roads, Eno and Little River churches, 1780–18211780–1821 · 16 events · Between 1780 and 1821 the Presbyterian churches of western Orange split into two pastoral charges and went through the revival that began at Cross Roads. Hawfields moved west about 1780, Cross Roads was gathered from its neighbors, and about 1790 Hawfields and Cross Roads took one pastor while Eno and Little River took another. Opponents of James McGready burned his pulpit at Stony Creek in 1796. Under William D. Paisley, pastor from 1801, a Cross Roads communion in March 1801 set off what a 1966 article calls the Great Revival in the state, and crowds camped at Hawfields. Paisley also kept a grammar school before leaving in 1818. StorylineDividing Orange: the fight that made Alamance County, 1842–18511842–1851 · 16 events · From 1842 to 1849 Orange County fought over division and over a tax for a new courthouse that western voters saw as a move to fix the county seat and block division. In 1842 a meeting at the High Falls of Haw River resolved to keep petitioning for a central division, and voters rejected one. After the county court laid an $8,000 courthouse tax in 1844, meetings called the tax unjust, but voters rejected division again, by 292 votes. In 1849 a bill introduced by Giles Mebane created Alamance County west of a line nine miles west of Hillsborough, Orange voters approved it on April 19, and the new county's court first met on June 4. StorylineOrange County and the Mexican War, 1846–18481846–1848 · 8 events · Orange County raised a volunteer company for the war with Mexico, only to see it divided among other companies at the regiment's camp because it was still short of full strength. In 1846, 110 men enrolled at a Hawfields Regiment muster, and the volunteers later elected John Cameron captain. In January 1847 townspeople gave the Orange Volunteers a dinner at the Hillsborough House, and the company, accepted as Company I of the North Carolina Regiment, marched for Wilmington. At Smithville in February it was broken up, leaving Cameron without a command, though Orange men served on in the regiment in Mexico. In August 1848 about five hundred people attended a Chapel Hill dinner for the returning volunteers.

Other dated events here, in date order. See these 36 dated events in the chronology →

  1. John Lawson's party fords the Haw and meets a Virginia pack train in the Haw Fields On the last stages before Occaneechi Town, Lawson's party stripped in cold weather to ford the Haw River, which he described as running among boulders the size of houses. The next day, crossing the rich land known as the Haw Fields, they met a pack train of thirty loaded horses and four or five men led by Massey, an Englishman from Leeds trading out of Virginia, and reached the Occaneechi town about three that afternoon. People: John LawsonInternet Archive: Douglas L. Rights, "The Trading Path to the Indians", North Carolina Historical Review 8 (1931), p. 417
  2. Bishop Spangenberg's party travels the Trading Path across the new Orange County Seeking land for the Moravians, Bishop Spangenberg set out from Edenton with the surveyor William Churton and followed the Trading Path from near present Warrenton to the Yadkin. His travel schedule names stages at Sennett's, eight miles beyond Patrick Bogin's, and Maprin's, eighteen miles on, then the Haw River eight miles farther and a Dutchman's fifteen miles past it. Rights identified these as Sinnott's mill east of Hillsborough, the Mebane place on the Haw Fields road, and the ford near present Swepsonville. People: William Churton Also named: Bishop SpangenbergSearch the index · Internet Archive: Douglas L. Rights, "The Trading Path to the Indians", North Carolina Historical Review 8 (1931), p. 407
  3. The county court contracts for a courthouse and prison near Piney Ford The justices chose a site north of the Haw River within two miles of Piney Ford and gave Marmaduke Kimbrough the contract for a frame courthouse and a log prison. They met at the site in December, but the buildings were probably never finished. Also named: Marmaduke KimbroughLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 19
  4. Moravians record a visit from Indians living at a fort near the Haw River The Moravian settlers near present Winston-Salem recorded a visit in 1756 from Indians described as Cherokees from the fort near Haw River. The Haw was then in Orange County and a long way from any known Cherokee town, and the entry places an Indian settlement in the county decades after the Piedmont was supposed to be empty of them.Excavating Occaneechi Town (UNC Press): Pre-Revolutionary War
  5. John Armstrong contracts with Henry McCulloh to run a mill on the Haw River John Armstrong of Orange County and Henry McCulloh of Halifax County made a contract about the operation of a mill on the Haw River. People: John Armstrong (active 1764) Also named: Henry Eustace McCulloh, Henry McCullohSearch the index · UNC Libraries, Wilson Special Collections Library: John Armstrong Papers, 1764 and undated
  6. Settlers west of the Haw River call Orange County's representatives and vestry to a settlement at the courthouse Inhabitants on the west side of the Haw River addressed Orange County's Assembly men and vestrymen, asking them to fix a day before the next court to meet at the courthouse and settle accounts of taxes and officers' fees, and declaring they would pay no more taxes until they had a full settlement.Documenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Regulators' Advertisement No. 5, address from inhabitants near Haw River to the Orange County Vestry and General Assembly representatives, March 22, 1768
  7. William Chavis of Granville County sells 320 acres on the Haw River William Chavis of Granville County, who held land beside the Saponi settlement on William Eaton's land and appears to have been of part Indian descent, sold Joseph Pritchit 320 acres on both sides of the Haw River from a 1751 grant. Hazel notes the tract lay near where Saponi families would settle about twenty years later. Also named: William Chavis, Joseph Pritchit, William EatonNorth Carolina Archaeological Society: Forest Hazel, Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants in the North Carolina Piedmont: The Texas Community, Southern Indian Studies 40 (1991), p. 10
  8. Regulators marching on New Bern turn back at Haw River Regulators from Rowan, Orange and Granville gathered under James Hunter to march on New Bern, where Herman Husband was jailed. They broke up at Haw River on hearing that a grand jury had declined to indict him and he had been released on February 8. People: James Hunter, Herman Husband, Rednap HowellNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 21
  9. Tryon's army halts at Colonel Mebane's for Sunday worship on the march to Alamance Leaving Hillsborough on May 11, Tryon stopped on Sunday at Colonel Mebane's for divine service, then marched to the Haw River, where 23 mounted men under Captain Bullock joined as his only cavalry. He ordered his troops not to take property and reached Alamance Creek on May 14. People: William Tryon Also named: Colonel Mebane, Captain BullockInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 202
  10. Pyle's defeat near the Haw River Henry Lee's Legion and Andrew Pickens's militia attacked a few hundred Loyalist recruits under Dr. John Pyle who were riding to join Cornwallis at Hillsborough. Mistaking Lee's men for Tarleton's cavalry, the Loyalists were cut down, with more than 90 killed, on Michael Holt's land, then in Orange County and now in southern Alamance. People: Andrew Pickens Also named: John Pyle, Henry Lee III, Michael HoltNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Pyle's Defeat (Highway Historical Marker G-22)
  11. The court grants William Philips a public ferry over the Haw The court gave William Philips leave to keep a ferry over the Haw River on his own land, opposite William Galbreath's plantation, and declared it a public ferry. Also named: William Philips, William GalbreathSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: November Term 1788
  12. Samuel Shaw appeals the court's grant of a rival Haw River ferry to William Philips The court gave William Philips leave to keep a public ferry over the Haw River near Shaw's ferry, opposite William Galbreath's plantation. Samuel Shaw told the court he was aggrieved and was granted an appeal to the district Superior Court at Hillsborough, giving bond for it. Also named: William Philips, Samuel Shaw, William GalbreathSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: August Term 1789
Show all 36 dated events
  1. The court grants William Gwinn a public ferry at the Shallow Ford of the Haw The court allowed William Gwinn to keep a ferry at the Shallow Ford over the Haw River and declared it a public ferry. Gwinn gave bond with Andrew Gibson and William Rogers as sureties. Also named: William Gwinn, Andrew Gibson, William RogersSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1790
  2. The court orders a road laid out from the University toward Clerk's ferry on the Haw On the petition of John Hogan and others, the court named a jury to view and lay off the best road from the seat of the University toward Clerk's ferry on the Haw River, as far as the Chatham County line, and named the hands to clear it. People: Colonel John HoganMark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: August Term 1793
  3. The court names poll inspectors for elections at Hillsborough and southwest of Haw River The court appointed David Mebane and Baxter King inspectors of the poll for the election to be held at the court house in Hillsborough, and Joseph Clendenning and Isaac Holt inspectors for the election to be held on the southwest side of Haw River. Also named: David Mebane, Baxter King, Joseph Clendenning, Isaac HoltSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1797
  4. The court makes the Trolinger and Gant bridge over the Haw a toll bridge The court established the bridge across the Haw River built by Henry Trolinger and William Gant as a toll bridge and set its tolls, from 40 cents for a wagon and team and 20 cents for a cart or riding chair down to 5 cents a horse and a few cents a person. Also named: Henry Trolinger, William GantSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1811
  5. The court orders the road from the University to Woody's ferry laid off south of Richard Stanford's house On a petition, the court ordered the sheriff to summon a jury to view the road from the University to Woody's ferry near the house of Richard Stanford and to lay it off so that it passed south of his house. People: Richard StanfordSearch the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: February Term 1814
  6. The court renews its order for a road from the University to Jones's ferry on Haw River The court renewed its order of the last term directing the sheriff to summon a jury to view the land and report the most convenient and direct road that could be made from the University to Jones Ferry on Haw River, as far as the Orange line extended.Search the index · Mark Chilton, transcription of the Orange County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions minutes: May Term 1816
  7. Mary Mendenhall keeps Union School near Woody's Ferry on the Haw In 1818 Union School, about a mile south of Woody's Ferry on the Haw River in Orange County, was in the charge of Mary Mendenhall. Also named: Mary MendenhallLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 135
  8. The grand jury presents John Little, a child of color living south of the Haw River The county grand jury presented a child of color called John Little, living on the south side of the Haw River on the waters of Cane Creek, near John Newlin's. By 1830 the court had bound him to Joseph Clendenin; that August, Clendenin having died, his son Alexander brought John into court and the court bound him to Alexander to learn farming. Also named: John Little, Joseph Clendenin, Alexander ClendeninMark Chilton, Freedom Bound: Apprenticeship, Racism & Liberation in Orange County, North Carolina 1777 to 1868 (Wandering through the NC Piedmont)
  9. Citizens near Murphey's mills hold a Fourth of July muster, oration and dinner Citizens near Murphey's mills celebrated Independence Day with David Nelson presiding, a reading of the Declaration by Victor M. Murphey and an oration by Dr. James A. Craig. A band led the procession, two infantry companies under Captains Russell and McDaniel fired a round for each state, and Captain William Jones served the dinner before twenty-four toasts. People: James A. Craig Also named: David Nelson, Victor M. Murphey, William JonesSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, July 16, 1823, p. 3
  10. Petitions for a new county west of the Haw circulate at the Haw River regimental muster At the Haw River regimental muster petitions for a separate county were put before the men and many signed. One plan would divide Orange in two; another would form a new county from parts of Orange, Chatham, Randolph and Guilford with the Haw River as its northeast line. Michael Holt refused to sign, arguing Orange was too small to make two counties. Also named: Michael HoltHillsborough Recorder, July 6, 1825, p. 3
  11. Orange County buys Trollinger's bridge on Haw River and opens it free of toll Commissioners appointed by the county court to buy Trollinger's bridge over Haw River completed the purchase, and the bridge became free of toll.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 22, 1825, p. 3
  12. James Mebane takes a flour boat down the Haw and Cape Fear from Murphey's Mills James Mebane set out from Murphey's Mills in a boat sixty feet long, able to carry a hundred barrels of flour, and brought it safely down the Haw and Cape Fear rivers in five or six days, the first time the Haw had been navigated from so high up. Onlookers at once raised a subscription for a second boat of the same size to carry flour to Fayetteville in the winter. People: James MebaneSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 11, 1828, p. 3
  13. The Clover Garden mail carrier drowns crossing the Haw River Robert Glenn, a boy of about twelve who carried the mail on the Clover Garden route, drowned while trying to cross the Haw River at a ferry about fifteen miles west of Chapel Hill. The horse and the mail were saved. Also named: Robert GlennSearch the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), January 16, 1834, p. 3
  14. The Methodist conference sends George W. Dye to the Orange circuit Closing its session at Raleigh, the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church read out its appointments for the year, placing George W. Dye on the Orange circuit in the Danville district and John A. Miller on the Haw River circuit in the Newbern district. Also named: George W. Dye, John A. MillerSearch the index · The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), March 6, 1834, p. 2
  15. The Orange Troop of cavalry escorts General Trolinger's militia review at Hillsborough The Orange Troop, a cavalry company of about forty men from the Haw River Regiment under Captain Dickey, rode into Hillsborough with General Trolinger, his staff, a band and baggage wagons and escorted him to the field for his review of the militia. The troop went with him through his whole tour of the division, including a dinner at Chapel Hill on September 24.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 21, 1841, p. 3
  16. A meeting at the High Falls of Haw River demands a central division of Orange County A large meeting at the High Falls on Haw River, chaired by William Montgomery, resolved to keep petitioning the legislature for a central division of Orange County, condemned the recent attempt to tax the county $10,000 for a new court house, and pledged to support no legislative candidate who opposed division. A substitute offered by Giles Mebane to settle the question by a popular vote at the August election was voted down. People: William Montgomery, Giles MebaneHillsborough Recorder, May 5, 1842, p. 3
  17. John Newlin and his sons build a cotton mill at Saxapahaw The Quaker Newlins began a spinning mill on the Haw River at Saxapahaw in 1844, using enslaved labor to dig the millrace from a rock dam. The brick mill was ready to produce in 1848, the second cotton mill in the county. Also named: John NewlinSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 267-268
  18. Commissioners let the repair of the Haw River bridge at Ruffin's Mills James A. Craig, Handy Wood, John Stockard, Peter Foust and Daniel Harden, commissioners, advertised that they would meet builders on the premises on May 21 to let out the repair of the bridge over Haw River at Ruffin's Mills, then in Orange County. People: James A. Craig, John Stockard Also named: Handy Wood, Peter Foust, Daniel HardenSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 7, 1846, p. 3
  19. Orange County voters approve dividing the county to form Alamance In the referendum the Alamance act required, Orange County voters approved dividing the county, 1,237 for division to 1,001 against, at polls from Hillsborough to Haw River and Chapel Hill.Hillsborough Recorder, April 25, 1849, p. 3
  20. The Assembly confirms the line between Orange and Alamance The 1849 act creating Alamance named Edward Benson for Alamance and Freeman Walker for Orange to survey the new county line, but Walker would not act with Benson, and the line was run by Benson with W. S. Moore of Orange. It started at a gum sapling on the Caswell line and ran due south, crossing Cane Creek three times, to a birch bush on the bank of the Haw River, then followed the river to the Chatham line. Walker and others measured nine miles due west from Hillsborough and came up 44 yards short of it. The General Assembly's 1850-51 session declared the Benson and Moore line the boundary. Also named: Edward Benson, Freeman Walker, W. S. MooreInternet Archive: David Leroy Corbitt, The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943 (1950; 1975 printing), p. 169, quoting Public Laws of North Carolina, 1850-51, ch. 43; the commissioners' report is printed on pp. 246-247
  21. Carl Durham's diggers find Dr. Bartlett Durham's grave in southwestern Orange At the request of a Durham committee that wanted to honor the man the city was named for, Carl Durham, his uncle John Durham, and three Black diggers led by Tom Stone opened seven graves in the abandoned Snipes graveyard near the Haw River before finding Dr. Bartlett Durham's metal casket under a pine tree. They covered it again, and the Weekly reported that William F. Carr's committee of the Durham Rotary Club would plan a monument and ceremonies. People: Carl T. Durham Also named: John Durham, Tom Stone, William F. Carr, Bartlett DurhamSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 20, 1929, p. 1
  22. A consultant's study ranks Cane Creek eighth of 11 water sources on cost On April 25, 1979, L.E. Wooten and Company of Raleigh gave the Army Corps of Engineers an economic analysis that ranked OWASA's proposed Cane Creek reservoir eighth of 11 possible water sources and the Haw River first; OWASA's own studies had put Cane Creek first. The Corps had hired the firm because its cost figures and OWASA's differed while it weighed OWASA's dredge-and-fill permit.The Daily Tar Heel, April 26, 1979, p. 1
  23. State closes comments on the Cane Creek reservoir draft impact statement On June 1, 1982, the state Division of Environmental Management received the last responses to its draft environmental impact statement on OWASA's proposed 758-acre Cane Creek reservoir, which made no choice among water sources. Chapel Hill's mayor, the Triangle J Council of Governments and the Orange County commissioners backed Cane Creek as the cleanest source, while the Cane Creek Conservation Authority argued that Jordan Lake, the Haw River or a higher University Lake dam would do as well.The Daily Tar Heel, June 3, 1982, p. 5
  24. The Haw River Assembly works to stop pollution of the Haw River The Haw River Assembly, a citizens' group led by president Charles Brady of Carrboro, had for about a year been fighting pollution in the Haw River and protecting wildlife along it, while the UNC School of Public Health, with new Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation money, ran the first study of organic pollutants in the river. About half a mile of the Haw runs through Orange County. Also named: Charles Brady · Also mentions: UNC School of Public HealthSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, October 26, 1982, p. 1

Maps of Haw River

Dated maps that show this place, oldest first: town plans, county, road and soil maps, fire insurance sheets and the U.S. Geological Survey’s topographic maps, each linked to the library or archive that holds it. The USGS maps are free to download.

  1. Map of Orange County UNC · a county map
  2. Map of Orange County, N.C. UNC · a county map
  3. A map of Orange County, N.C. UNC · a county map
  4. Soil map, North Carolina, Orange County sheet Duke · a county map
  5. School map, Orange County, North Carolina. UNC · a county map
  6. Map of Orange County, N.C. : 1939 UNC · a county map
  7. An atlas for Orange County, North Carolina UNC · a county map
  8. USGS topographic map, Saxapahaw quadrangle (1:24,000) U.S. Geological Survey (PDF)

Deeds

Deeds in the county’s deed books, from Mark Chilton’s published abstracts, that name Haw River in describing the land. Results also include longer place names, such as roads or meeting houses named for Haw River. Each name opens a search for those deeds.

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