Occoneechee Mountain

In the chronology

Storylines about Occoneechee Mountain, in date order. Each has its own page.

Other dated events here, in date order. See these 13 dated events in the chronology →

1. June 1884 A Hillsborough doctor has the picnic grounds and paths on Occoneechee Mountain put in order A Dr. Wilson raised money to fix up the picnic grounds near the mountain spring and the paths to Sofa Rock and the Panther's Den, so the town could reach them easily. The Orange County Observer thanked him for the people of Hillsboro.Search the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 14, 1884, p. 3 · Also: The News and Observer (Raleigh), April 6, 1884, p. 2
2. about 1900 The Southern Stone Company works a quarry on Occoneechee Mountain A quarry begun on the mountain in the late 1800s was run around the turn of the century by the Southern Stone Company of Culpeper, Virginia. Convicts did much of the work, and a narrow-gauge rail bed ran on three levels down to a rock crusher by the river. Quarrying went on at least until about 1910.Search the index · R. Marina Riley, A Strategy to Protect the Environmental and Cultural Values of Occoneechee Mountain in Orange County, North Carolina (1994), scan p. 23
3. late January 1903 More than a hundred state convicts arrive to quarry railroad ballast on Occoneechee Mountain Over a hundred convicts were brought from Mitchell County to Hillsborough to get out stone on Occoneechee Mountain for ballasting the North Carolina Railroad, and another gang came from Raleigh in February. Also mentions: North Carolina RailroadSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), January 29, 1903, p. 3
4. April 27, 1903 A guard kills a convict trying to escape from the Occoneechee Mountain stone works A white state convict named Stevens, serving thirty years for murder, was shot dead by a guard named Blake when he broke for liberty as the convicts went to dinner at the stone works on Occoneechee Mountain.Search the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 30, 1903, p. 3
5. September 14, 1904 Heavy rain and wind wash out the railroad trestle over the Eno A storm of heavy rain and wind damaged crops across the county, washed away the Southern Railway trestle over the Eno at Occoneechee Mountain, carried off cordwood and damaged the brickyard of the Eno Cotton Mill, drowned one of Julian S. Carr's mules above the town bridge, and wrecked the bridge over New Hope Creek at Robson Station. People: Julian S. CarrSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 22, 1904, p. 3
6. early August 1906 Italian laborers arrive to work the Occoneechee Mountain quarry Nearly thirty Italian workers came to Hillsboro to work in the Southern Broken Stone Company's quarry at Occoneechee Mountain.Search the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), August 16, 1906, p. 3
7. October 1959 Piedmont Minerals builds a pyrophyllite mine and plant at Occoneechee Mountain Piedmont Minerals Co. of Greensboro, an affiliate of a fire-brick maker, having bought 85 acres of the mountain a mile south of Hillsboro over four years, built a road and began putting up tanks, a 170-ton storage bin and a crusher to mine and clean the low-grade pyrophyllite ore, dumping waste in a nearby ravine. About 40 workers were expected at first, perhaps 100 if brick making came to the site.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 8, 1959, p. 6
8. 1975 Botanists list Occoneechee Mountain as a potential ecological natural landmark A. E. Radford and D. L. Martin included the mountain in their 1975 survey of potential ecological natural landmarks of the Piedmont. UNC botany graduate student R. David Whetstone then studied its north-facing slopes in 1974-1977 to confirm its value. Also named: A. E. Radford, D. L. Martin, R. David WhetstoneSearch the index · R. Marina Riley, A Strategy to Protect the Environmental and Cultural Values of Occoneechee Mountain in Orange County, North Carolina (1994), scan p. 23
9. 1988 A countywide inventory of natural areas singles out Occoneechee Mountain Dawson Sather and Stephen Hall's inventory of Orange County's natural areas and wildlife habitats, sponsored by the Triangle Land Conservancy and the state Natural Heritage Program, identified 64 sites, among them Occoneechee Mountain and four other places on the Eno outside the state park. Also named: Dawson Sather, Stephen HallSearch the index · R. Marina Riley, A Strategy to Protect the Environmental and Cultural Values of Occoneechee Mountain in Orange County, North Carolina (1994), scan p. 15
10. 1993 or 1994 The Eno River Association buys timber rights on Occoneechee Mountain To stop logging on about 96 acres along the summit, where the mountain's rarest plant communities grow, the association bought the timber rights the owners had sold to a timber company, holding them for 18 months while it negotiated to buy the land.R. Marina Riley, A Strategy to Protect the Environmental and Cultural Values of Occoneechee Mountain in Orange County, North Carolina (1994), scan p. 27
11. by 1994 Piedmont Minerals grants easements for an Occoneechee Mountain parking lot and trail The mining company, which owned about 40 acres on the mountain's north side, gave easements for a one-acre parking lot on the floodplain by SR 1148 and a narrow trail linking it to the Town of Hillsborough's 28-acre Occoneechee Park.R. Marina Riley, A Strategy to Protect the Environmental and Cultural Values of Occoneechee Mountain in Orange County, North Carolina (1994), scan p. 25
12. 1997–1999 Occoneechee Mountain becomes a State Natural Area At the urging of the Eno River Association and The Nature Conservancy, the state began buying land on Occoneechee Mountain just south of Hillsborough, with the Conservancy purchasing 96 acres for the state. The 124-acre Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area was dedicated on July 20, 1999, with a blessing from an Occaneechi tribal member. Also mentions: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural AreaSearch the index · Eno River Association: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area