Haw River

In the chronology

Dated events connected with this place, earliest first. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

1. September 1752 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.Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 19
2. 1756 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
3. 1764 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.Search the index · UNC Libraries, Wilson Special Collections Library: John Armstrong Papers, 1764 and undated
4. March 22, 1768 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
5. August 27, 1768 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.North Carolina Archaeological Society: Forest Hazel, Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants in the North Carolina Piedmont: The Texas Community, Southern Indian Studies 40 (1991), p. 10
6. February 1771 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 HusbandNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 21
7. May 12-14, 1771 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 TryonInternet Archive: Bassett, The Regulators of North Carolina (1765-1771) (1896), p. 202
8. February 25, 1781 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 PickensNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Pyle's Defeat (Highway Historical Marker G-22)
9. 1818 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.Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 135
10. 1844-1848 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.Search the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 267-268