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Schools and academies

Burwell School

The Burwell School at 319 North Churton Street in Hillsborough is the 1821 house where Robert and Anna Burwell ran a school for girls from 1837 to 1857, holding Elizabeth Hobbs, later Elizabeth Keckly, enslaved in the household. Open to visitors since 1977, it was renamed the Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School in 2026.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

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Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

Books, articles, records, and images about Burwell School. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

Held at OCPL

The Book of Burwell Students

Engstrom, Mary Claire · 1979 · Historic Hillsborough Commission

Mary Claire Engstrom's biographical register of the young women who attended the Burwell School in Hillsborough, subtitled lives of educated women in the antebellum South. The school was kept by Margaret Anna Burwell and her husband, and the book bears on women's education in nineteenth-century North Carolina. Published by the Historic Hillsborough Commission, 1979, 256 pages with illustrations and portraits.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 371.82 ENG NC Cardinal UNC Durham

Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color Who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857

Historic Hillsborough Commission (Hillsborough, N.C.) · 2019

The Historic Hillsborough Commission's account of slavery in antebellum Hillsborough and of the enslaved and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School, the female school the Burwells kept in town, between 1837 and 1857. African American history in Hillsborough and the school's own history are its two threads. Published in 2019.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.656 HISTORIC

Elsewhere

Anna Burwell and the business of being a Presbyterian minister's wife in North Carolina, 1835-1857

Hoffert, Sylvia D. · 2019 · Historical Research Office, Office of Archives and History

Sylvia D. Hoffert's article on Margaret Anna Burwell, 1810 to 1871, and the work of being a Presbyterian minister's wife in North Carolina from 1835 to 1857, the years of the female school she and her husband kept in Hillsborough. Pages 245 to 275 with illustrations, facsimiles and portraits, issued by the Office of Archives and History in Raleigh in 2019.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free Peoples of Color Who Worked at the Burwell School -1837-1857: A Study of the Research Committee of the Burwell School Historic Site, Janie Morris and Betty Eldenier, Co-chairs

2019

Research by a committee at the Burwell School Historic Site, co-chaired by Janie Morris and Betty Eldenier, into the enslaved people and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School in Hillsborough between 1837 and 1857, the years it ran as a female school. Published in 2019, it covers slavery and education in nineteenth century Hillsborough.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

Durham

Antebellum Hillsborough, slavery, and enslaved and free peoples of color who worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 : a study of the Research Committee of the Burwell School Historic Site

Morris, Janie · 2019 · Compiled and presented by Burwell School Historic Site

A study by the Research Committee of the Burwell School Historic Site, compiled by Janie Morris, on the enslaved and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School in Hillsborough between 1837 and 1857. Presented in 2019 in 123 pages with illustrations and maps, it gathers evidence of slavery in the town during the years the Burwells ran their female school.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Cardinal

Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's Female School, 1837-1857, Hillsborough, North Carolina.

1966

A register of Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's Female School, the girls' school that operated in Hillsborough from 1837 to 1857, edited by the Hillsborough Historical Society and printed in 1966. Fifteen pages with illustrations and portraits, it lists those connected with the school and touches on the Burwell family.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

The Burwell School (1837-1857) in historic Hillsborough, North Carolina.

Historic Hillsborough Commission (Hillsborough, N.C.) · 1965 · Historic Hillsborough Commission

A 1965 leaflet from the Historic Hillsborough Commission on the Burwell School, the female school the Burwells ran in the town from 1837 to 1857, issued as part of the commission's restoration of the property. The General Assembly established the commission in 1963. One sheet of three unnumbered pages with illustrations and portraits.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Title page of 'The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin', one of the books on display at the Burwell School in Hillsborough. Photographed 6 April 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Show 43 more works

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Photograph of the sign in front of the Burwell School in Hillsborough, taken 6 April 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project, part of a set recording the historic school house and its grounds.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Front exterior of the Burwell School in Hillsborough, photographed on 6 April 2002 by the North Carolina ECHO project. The school was founded by the Reverend Robert Burwell, Hillsborough's Presbyterian pastor from 1835.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

The gardens at the Burwell School in Hillsborough, one of a series of photographs the North Carolina ECHO project made at the historic school on 6 April 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Unusual light fixtures in the common dining room of Hillsborough's Burwell School, photographed on 6 April 2002 as part of the North Carolina ECHO project's survey of the house.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Interior view of the formal dining room at the Burwell School in Hillsborough, from the North Carolina ECHO project's photographs of the house, 6 April 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Inside the Burwell School in Hillsborough: one of the front rooms, photographed on 6 April 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

A second view of a front room at the Burwell School, Hillsborough, taken the same day, 6 April 2002, by the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

An upstairs bedroom at the Burwell School in Hillsborough, photographed 6 April 2002 during the North Carolina ECHO project's visit to the historic house.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Exhibit on the history of the Burwell School and the people who lived there, photographed inside the Hillsborough house on 6 April 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

April 2002 view of another sleeping chamber in the Burwell School at Hillsborough, one of the North Carolina ECHO project's interior photographs of the house.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Period furnishings in the Burwell School, Hillsborough, photographed 6 April 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project. None of the pieces belonged to the house; they are the kind of furniture used there in the middle of the 19th century.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

A needlework sampler by Mary Isabella Ogle, possibly dated 1852, on display at the Burwell School in Hillsborough. Photographed 6 April 2002 by the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Bed chamber at the Burwell School in Hillsborough, furnished as a typical room of its kind, from a set of North Carolina ECHO project photographs taken on 6 April 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Panel from the Burwell School's history exhibit in Hillsborough telling how Josiah Collins and his family came to live in the house during the Civil War. North Carolina ECHO project photograph, 6 April 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Photograph from the Burwell School in Hillsborough, taken 6 April 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project. Its caption recalls the school's founder, the Reverend Robert Burwell, who arrived in 1835 as the town's Presbyterian pastor.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

A white musk rose, Rosa moschata plena, growing on the Burwell School grounds in Hillsborough and thought to be more than 150 years old. North Carolina ECHO project photograph, 6 April 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Close view of a single bloom from the old white musk rose on the Burwell School grounds, Hillsborough, photographed 6 April 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Rare books displayed inside the Burwell School in Hillsborough, photographed on 6 April 2002 by the North Carolina ECHO project.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Burwell School

North Carolina ECHO (Project) · 2002

Handwritten inscription in a volume of 'The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin', one of the old books at the Burwell School in Hillsborough. North Carolina ECHO project photograph, 6 April 2002.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [February 16, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Written 16 February 1856, a letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell in Hillsborough to her daughter Frances Armistead Burwell, known as Fanny, about family and daily affairs.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [February 20, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Letter dated 20 February 1856 from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to her daughter Frances Armistead Burwell, called Fanny, 1838 to 1856. Mrs. Burwell and her husband ran the Burwell School for girls in Hillsborough.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [February 4, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

In a letter of 4 February 1856, Anna Burwell writes to her daughter Fanny. It belongs with her other Hillsborough letters to Fanny from 1855 and 1856.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [February 8, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Family letter of 8 February 1856 from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Frances Armistead Burwell, her daughter, known as Fanny, touching on daily life in the Burwell household in Hillsborough.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [January 12, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Hillsborough mother to daughter: Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell's letter of 12 January 1856 to Frances Armistead Burwell, called Fanny, concerning daily life at home.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [January 19, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Letter of 19 January 1856 from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell, 1810 to 1871, to her daughter Fanny (Frances Armistead Burwell), written in Hillsborough in the last year of Fanny's life.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [January 25, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Family letter of 25 January 1856 in which Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell writes from Hillsborough to her daughter Fanny Burwell, part of a series of letters to Fanny from 1855 and 1856.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [January 5, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

On 5 January 1856 Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell wrote this letter to her daughter Fanny, Frances Armistead Burwell, one of several from the Burwell family of Hillsborough in the winter of 1855 to 1856.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [March 10, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell of Hillsborough writes to her daughter Frances, called Fanny, on 10 March 1856, one of a run of family letters from that winter touching on daily life.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [March 15, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Dated 15 March 1856, a letter from Anna Burwell of Hillsborough to her daughter Fanny, who died later that year.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [March 4, 1856]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1856

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to her daughter Fanny (Frances Armistead Burwell), dated 4 March 1856 at Hillsborough, with news of home and daily life.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [December 10, 1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Letter from Anna Burwell, principal of the Burwell girls' school in Hillsborough, to her daughter Fanny Burwell, dated 10 December 1855.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [December 22, 1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell of Hillsborough to her daughter Frances Armistead Burwell, known as Fanny, written in December 1855 and dealing with daily life at home.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [December 29, 1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell of the Burwell School in Hillsborough wrote to her daughter Frances Armistead (Fanny) Burwell on 29 December 1855. Fanny died the following year.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [November 27, 1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell's letter of 27 November 1855 to her daughter Fanny Burwell, the earliest in a run of letters from the Burwell household in Hillsborough that continues into March 1856.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [September 15, 1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell writes to her daughter Fanny (Frances Armistead Burwell) on 15 September 1855, one of a run of family letters from the years the Burwells kept their girls' school in Hillsborough.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Mary Susan Burwell Strudwick to Mary Burwell [August 17, 1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Letter of 17 August 1855 from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell in Hillsborough to her daughter Mary Susan Burwell (1832 to 1859), who married into the Strudwick family.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell Diary [1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Anna Burwell's diary for 1855, from 1 January to 17 December, written while she lived in Hillsborough and served as principal of Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's Female School, which she ran with her husband, Robert Armistead Burwell.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Partial Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Fanny Burwell [October 25, 1855]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1855

Surviving part of a letter Anna Burwell wrote from Hillsborough to her daughter Frances, called Fanny, on 25 October 1855. Fanny Burwell lived from 1838 to 1856.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Elizabeth Coit to Her Sister [April 10, 1852]

Coit, Elizabeth · 1852

Elizabeth Coit wrote to her sister from the Burwell School in Hillsborough on 10 April 1852, describing the new white linen bonnets given to all the school's girls and a pretty neck ribbon Mrs. Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell bought for her.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Elizabeth Coit to Her Sister [May 29, 1852]

Coit, Elizabeth · 1852

Elizabeth Coit writes to her sister on 29 May 1852 about the close of the school session at the Burwell School in Hillsborough.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Letter from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell to Mary A. Kirkland [January 17, 1846]

Burwell, Margaret Anna Robertson, 1810-1871 · 1846

Letter of 17 January 1846 from Margaret Anna Robertson Burwell, who ran the Burwell School in Hillsborough with her husband, to Mary Anderson Kirkland, touching on daily life.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

DigitalNC DPLA

Mary Claire Engstrom papers, 1963-1984.

Engstrom, Mary Claire, 1906-1997 · 1963

Research papers of Mary Claire Engstrom, 1906 to 1997, dated 1963 to 1984 and filling 13.75 linear feet with roughly ten thousand items, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 4684. Her subjects were Hillsborough's historic buildings and districts, John Berry, Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's Female School, county cemeteries, Quakers, and local history. Correspondence with other genealogists belongs to the group.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Rena C. Harrell correspondence, 1962-1966.

Harrell, Rena C. · 1962

Thirty three letters of Rena C. Harrell, written between 1962 and 1966, in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 3751-z. The correspondence concerns the Burwell school for girls at Hillsborough and social conditions in the town, and people and organizations represented include Mary Claire Engstrom, Carolyn Andrews Wallace, Hugh Conway Browning and Thomas Hugh Spence.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Published by or for this institution

Circular and catalogue of Mr. & Mrs. Burwell's Female School, Hillsboro', N.C. : term 1848-1851

1851 · Printed at the N.C. Inst. for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind

Circular and list of pupils of Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's Female School in Hillsborough for the terms 1848 to 1851, printed in Raleigh in 1851 at the North Carolina Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. Eleven pages.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

The Circular [1848-1851]

1848

Circular for Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's Female School in Hillsborough, 1848 to 1851, the only complete one known. It gives the course of study, tuition, patrons and a roll of students. Robert and Margaret Anna Burwell ran the school for young white women from 1837 to 1857.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

DigitalNC DPLA

Reward of Merit

Kollock, Sarah Jane · 1839

Reward of Merit given to Mary Rebecca Jones about 1839 for reciting the multiplication table without error. Sarah Jane Kollock's name is attached to it, and it is thought to have come from the Burwell School in Hillsborough.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

DigitalNC DPLA

Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's School Report Card for Emily Cooley

Burwell School (Hillsborough, N.C.) · 1800

Report card from Mr. and Mrs. Burwell's School in Hillsborough on the studies of Emily Eliza Cooley, 1837 to 1869. It is undated, from the middle or later 1800s.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

DigitalNC DPLA

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Burwell School alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

Hillsborough architectural survey

Slane, Heather Wagner · 2017 · hmwPreservation

Survey of Hillsborough's historic buildings by Heather Wagner Slane of hmwPreservation, completed in September 2017. The 40-page report covers the town's architecture and history with color illustrations and maps.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Time in place, place in time : history and sense of place in Hillsborough, North Carolina

Warren, Cheryl Davis · 2005

Cheryl Davis Warren's 2005 study of history and sense of place in Hillsborough, 216 leaves with illustrations, maps and a bibliography. Written as human geography, it treats the town's past alongside its social conditions and the ways residents understand where they live.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

[Plan of the town of Hillsborough in Orange County, North Carolina]

Sauthier, Claude Joseph · 1768

Claude Joseph Sauthier's 1768 plan of the town of Hillsborough in Orange County, reproduced as a colored facsimile of the pen and ink manuscript on a sheet 43 by 53 centimeters. Relief is shown by hachures and the sheet is indexed for points of interest. The 1975 reproduction was made from negatives taken of the original in the Map Room of the British Museum.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Plan of the town of Hillsboro, taken in October 1863

1863

Plan of Hillsborough drawn in October 1863, showing the downtown blocks around the crossing of Tryon and Churton Streets, with the Eno River, spelled Enoe on the sheet.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

DigitalNC DPLA

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina.

1905

Fire insurance map of Hillsborough, spelled Hillsboro, drawn by the Sanborn Map Company in January 1905 on two sheets, from the Sanborn Maps collection.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Birdseye View of Hillsboro, N.C. Looking East

1905 · A. C. Bosselman & Co., New York, N.Y

Bird's-eye view of Hillsborough looking east, with houses and industrial buildings, on a postcard published by A. C. Bosselman & Co. of New York about 1905 to 1915. Card number 11116.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

DPLA

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection at the Main Library in Hillsborough whose titles, catalog subjects or descriptions are about this site. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Foundational · NC 975.656 HISTORIC Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color Who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 Historic Hillsborough Commission (Hillsborough, N.C.) · 2019

    The Historic Hillsborough Commission's account of slavery in antebellum Hillsborough and of the enslaved and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School, the female school the Burwells kept in town, between 1837 and 1857. African American history in Hillsborough and the school's own history are its two threads. Published in 2019.

  • Foundational · NC 371.82 ENG The Book of Burwell Students: Lives of Educated Women in the Antebellum South Engstrom, Mary Claire · 1979

    Mary Claire Engstrom's biographical register of the young women who attended the Burwell School in Hillsborough, subtitled lives of educated women in the antebellum South. The school was kept by Margaret Anna Burwell and her husband, and the book bears on women's education in nineteenth-century North Carolina. Published by the Historic Hillsborough Commission, 1979, 256 pages with illustrations and portraits.

Where to look next on the shelf

These books don’t necessarily mention Burwell School, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

Histories of the town and county

  • Start here · NC 975.656 LLO History of the Town of Hillsborough, 1754-1982 Lloyd, Allen Alexander · 1983

    A 1982 revision of Allen Alexander Lloyd's history of Hillsborough, now written with Pauline O. Lloyd and carried forward from the town's founding in 1754 to 1982. Published in Hillsborough by A. A. Lloyd, 310 pages with illustrations and a bibliography.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 HOLADAY Hillsborough Holaday, Chris · 2002

    J. Chris Holaday's Images of America volume on Hillsborough (Arcadia, 2002), built mostly from photographs and postcards. Chapters cover homes, churches and schools, business and industry, local people, scenes around town, and sports, entertainment and events.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 NAS Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary Nash, Frank · 1953

    Francis Nash's history of Hillsborough in colonial and Revolutionary times, first published in 1903 and reprinted in 1953 by Edwards & Broughton with an index and a sketch of the author. Topics include the Regulator Insurrection of 1766 to 1771, the Revolution and local genealogy.

Show 2 more
  • Foundational · 975.656 RYAN Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004

    Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.

  • Start here · NC 371.097 PENDER A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 Pender, Irene Oliver · 1983

    Irene Oliver Pender's history of the public schools of Orange County from 1752 to 1983, covering more than two centuries of schooling in Hillsborough, Efland, Cedar Grove and the rural districts of the county. Published in 1983, 186 pages with illustrations.

Buildings and surveys

  • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

    Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

  • Foundational · NC 720.975 HILLSBOR Hillsborough Historic District Inventory 2006

    An inventory of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District, dated 2006. It concerns historic buildings and the buildings and structures of Hillsborough. Useful for anyone checking a particular property in the town's historic district.

  • Start here · NC 720.975 BEL Photocensus: A Photographic Survey of Buildings in the Hillsborough, N.C. Historic District Built Before 1950 Bellinger, Susan McArtor · 1991

    Susan McArtor Bellinger's photographic survey of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District put up before 1950, self-published in Hillsborough in 1991. Arranged as a guidebook, it records houses and other structures in photographs. 142 pages with illustrations.

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  • Rebecca Wall Collection · 917.565 DUL The Pelican Guide to Hillsborough, Historic Orange County, North Carolina Dula, Lucile Noell · 1989

    Lucile Noell Dula's guidebook to Hillsborough and its historic buildings, published by Pelican in 1989. It pairs a tour of the town with notes on its history, in 128 illustrated pages with a bibliography. Part of the Wall Local History Collection.

Land, family and burial records

  • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: The Complete Reference Guide Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2013

    Stewart E. Dunaway worked through Hillsborough, N.C., lot by lot, giving each town lot a synopsis of its history, a plat showing where it sits and transcripts of the deeds he could locate for it. The second issue runs to 720 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: Addendum 2015 Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2015

    Stewart E. Dunaway's 2015 addendum to his history of Hillsborough's town lots, adding deed records arranged by lot number and further town history, with the expansion of the 1890s covered for the first time. Self-published in North Carolina as version 1.0, 446 pages with illustrations, facsimiles and maps. Topics include deeds, court records, land titles and real property in Hillsborough.

  • Foundational · NC 333.3 IND An Index to the Town Lots of Hillsborough: Orange County, North Carolina 1982

    An index to the town lots of Hillsborough, Orange County, compiled in 1982 as a guide to the deeds and court records that trace each lot's ownership.

In the chronology

Storylines about this site, each with a page of its own:

  1. Dr. James Webb deeds land for Polly Burke's log schoolhouse On November 6, 1817, Dr. James Webb deeded to his neighbor Mary W. Burke a strip of his lot on East Queen Street, where a log schoolhouse was built for her to teach the Webb children. Known as Miss Polly Burke's School, it took neighborhood children from about 1818 to 1834 and is cited as a forerunner of the Burwell School. People: James Webb NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Burke, Mary ("Polly") Williams
  2. Tavern keeper William Adams builds the house that became the Burwell School William Adams, a Hillsborough tavern keeper and businessman, builds a two-story house with two rooms on each floor facing West Union Street in 1821. Those rooms survive as the south rooms of the Burwell School. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 319 North Churton Street, Burwell School
  3. William H. Adams buys the lots that became the Burwell School site Hillsborough sold lots in the old North Town Commons pasture, advertising the town as a healthy place to live and to school children. In November 1821 William H. Adams took the deed for lots 152 and 153, an acre each, for $216. Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School: virtual exhibit timeline
  4. Hillsborough Presbyterian Church buys the house as its manse The church's trustees bought lots 152 and 153 in January 1836, renovated the house, and gave it to their minister, Robert Armistead Burwell, and his family, who had arrived from Virginia late the year before. People: Robert Armistead Burwell Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School: virtual exhibit timeline
  5. Burwell School for young women operates Robert and Margaret Anna Burwell operated their Hillsborough school for girls from 1837 to 1857. People: Margaret Anna Burwell, Robert Armistead Burwell, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly NCpedia
  6. Anna Burwell opens a school for girls in Hillsborough Anna Burwell advertised that she would open a female school in Hillsborough on July 17, 1837, teaching the usual English branches, with music available. She and her husband, the Rev. Robert Burwell, ran it in their home until 1857. People: Robert Armistead Burwell, Margaret Anna Burwell Internet Archive: Charles L. Coon, North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1915)
  7. A Female School House is built for the Burwells' school As the school grew, subscribers in town paid for a 36-by-20-foot schoolhouse north of the Burwell home, built by the carpenter George A. Faucette. Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School: virtual exhibit timeline
  8. Frances Devereux deeds Primus to Dr. Edmund Strudwick Five months after her husband died, Frances Devereux of Raleigh deeded Primus to Dr. Edmund Strudwick of Hillsborough. Primus later drove and gardened at the Burwell School and, after emancipation, worked at the Nash and Kollock School as Primus Smith. People: Edmund Strudwick, Frances (Pollock) Devereux Burwell School Historic Site Task Force: Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 (2019), p. 19
  9. Richard Mayo, a free cabinetmaker of color, buys three town lots Richard Mayo paid $200 for three lots on Occoneechee Street between West Tryon and West Queen streets, and in 1849 gave them to Levi McCollum to settle a debt. His brother William later waited tables at the Burwell School. Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: Richard Mayo
  10. Robert Burwell buys the house and has John Berry enlarge it Burwell resigned his pulpit and bought the two lots from the church for $800 and back pay. The builder John Berry added a central hall and two rooms and turned the house to face Churton Street. A deed of trust of July 16, 1850 shows Burwell still owing Berry $2,500 and the church trustees $800, secured on the lots and on enslaved members of the household. People: Robert Armistead Burwell, John Berry Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School: virtual exhibit timeline · Also: Burwell School Historic Site Task Force report
  11. Sarah Kollock becomes the Burwell School's teacher of French and drawing Sarah Kollock, one of the Burwell School's first pupils, had helped teach the younger children and in 1848 became its full-time teacher of French and drawing. By September 1851 Molly Burwell had taken her place and she was in Oxford. Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: Sarah Jane Kollock
  12. The old Burwell schoolroom is said to be moved to West Orange Street during John Berry's work on the Burwell School The west wing of the bungalow at 114 West Orange Street is reputed to be the old Burwell schoolroom, moved there in 1850 while John Berry was renovating the Burwell School. The house around it dates from 1922. People: John Berry NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), 114 W. Orange Street, house incorporating the old Burwell schoolroom
Show all 36 dated events
  1. Aunt Fariby saves Jane from burning Jane, a young enslaved servant at the Burwell School, caught fire. Anna Burwell wrote that she would have burned to death but for Aunt Fariby, who saved her life. People: Margaret Anna Burwell Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: Jane
  2. The Burwells resolve to sell their cook Hannah Hannah, who had come from Virginia with the family and cooked for the school, had been drinking heavily through 1855. Anna Burwell wrote to her daughter Fanny that she had made up her mind: Hannah would be sent to Richmond to be sold. People: Robert Armistead Burwell, Margaret Anna Burwell Burwell School Historic Site Task Force: Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 (2019), p. 14
  3. Anne Call Cameron, piano teacher to Burwell School students, dies A widow known as Nancy, she gave piano lessons at the Burwell School to help pay for the care of her daughter Anna McKenzie Kirkland, whose illness followed her husband's death in 1843. She died in Hillsborough in June 1856. Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: Anne Call Cameron
  4. A Black child and then a student die of illness at the Burwell School Writing to her mother, the student Lizzie Glass mentioned a small Black boy who had died at the school the previous day, at a time when Nannie Burwell and three of the Burwell children lay sick. Within a few weeks Lizzie Glass herself died at the school. Burwell School Historic Site Task Force: Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 (2019), p. 45
  5. Burwell School closes as the Burwells move to Charlotte The Burwells closed their Hillsborough school in 1857, the same year they took charge of a girls' school in Charlotte. People: Robert Armistead Burwell, Margaret Anna Burwell DigitalNC: Burwell School Historic Site Materials Now Available on DigitalNC
  6. The Collins family buys the former Burwell School and calls it the Beehive Members of the Collins family of Somerset Place, who had left Union-held eastern North Carolina, paid Robert Burwell $3,500 for the house and four lots. By 1863 about forty family members and enslaved servants lived there, and the family named it the Beehive. People: Robert Armistead Burwell Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: The Collins family and the Beehive years
  7. The Collins women sell their shares of the Beehive to Dr. Thomas D. Warren After the war the Collins relatives who had lived at the Beehive left Hillsborough, and the women sold their shares of the house to Dr. Thomas D. Warren, who had married Elizabeth Alethea Collins. Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: The Collins family and the Beehive years
  8. Peter and Diannah Benton acquire land south of Hillsborough A deed from Frances Thompson conveyed land half a mile south of town, where the Chatham and Chapel Hill roads divided (today Mayo Street and Orange Grove Road), to Peter Benton, his wife Diannah and Jimmy Thompson. Peter Benton, a free man, had gardened at the Burwell School in 1855. Burwell School Historic Site Task Force: Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 (2019), p. 18
  9. The sheriff auctions the former Burwell School to David C. Parks Dr. Thomas D. Warren was deep in local debt, and the Orange County sheriff sold the house at auction to David C. Parks for $600. Parks and his brother Charles traded the property between them for the next quarter century. People: David C. Parks, Charles M. Parks Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: The Collins family and the Beehive years
  10. David S. Payne marries Eliza Mayo The marriage joined two Black Hillsborough families tied to the Burwell School: Eliza was a granddaughter of the school's laundress Eliza Chavious, and David was the son of Bettie Payne and a grandson of Rev. William Payne, a founder of Dickerson Chapel. Elizabeth Keckly Center research database: David Sheppard Payne
  11. Jule Gilmer Korner remodels the former Burwell School In the 1890s the old Burwell School house was remodeled by Jule Gilmer Korner of Kernersville, who gave it a bracketed cornice, a sawnwork porch, a new hall stair and new mantels, including a marble one in the parlor. Several of the older mantels were lost in the work, which was done for an owner thought to be Mrs. Charles M. Parks. People: Charles M. Parks NC State Historic Preservation Office: Burwell School, National Register nomination (OR0004), p. 3
  12. Dr. John S. Spurgeon buys the former Burwell School The dentist paid Charles Parks $2,500 for lots 152 and 153. The Spurgeons, whose household included Carrie Waitt Spurgeon, daughter of a Burwell student, lived there for about seventy years and added electricity and plumbing. People: Charles M. Parks, John Sanford Spurgeon Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School: virtual exhibit timeline
  13. Mary Claire Engstrom chairs the Historic Hillsborough Commission Mary Claire Engstrom chaired the Historic Hillsborough Commission, a state-appointed body created in 1963, from 1964 to 1966 and again from 1976 to 1983. Her research files for the commission and other projects cover deeds, cemeteries, mills, inns, Quaker settlements and schools such as the Hillsborough Academy and the Burwell School. UNC Libraries finding aid: Mary Claire Engstrom Papers, 1963-1984 (#4684) · Also: Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 42
  14. The Richardson Foundation makes a challenge grant toward restoring the Burwell School The Richardson Foundation of Greensboro presented sixteen challenge grants totaling $60,000, each from $1,000 to $10,000 and administered by the State Department of Archives and History, to North Carolina restoration projects. The Burwell School in Hillsborough was among them. Internet Archive: "Historical News", North Carolina Historical Review 42 (1965), p. 380
  15. The Historic Hillsborough Commission buys the Burwell School The commission bought the house from the Spurgeon children and began restoring it to look as it had after the 1848 enlargement. NCpedia: Burwell School · Also: Internet Archive: North Carolina Historical Review 42
  16. Friends of Historic Hillsborough raise $14,000 toward the Burwell School The Friends of Historic Hillsborough raised more than $14,000, enough to qualify the Historic Hillsborough Commission for a $7,000 Richardson Foundation challenge grant toward restoring the Burwell School. Internet Archive: "Historical News", North Carolina Historical Review 43 (1966), p. 257
  17. Laurence E. Hensley is named supervising contractor for the Burwell School restoration The Historic Hillsborough Commission named Laurence E. Hensley of Durham supervising contractor for restoring the Burwell School. He was to work with A. L. Honeycutt Jr., restoration specialist of the State Department of Archives and History, and with the commission's restoration committee under James Webb of Greensboro, while an acquisitions committee headed by Mrs. George B. Daniel Jr. of Chapel Hill drew up a plan for furnishings. Internet Archive: "Historical News", North Carolina Historical Review 43 (1966), p. 377
  18. The first phase of the Burwell School restoration is finished At the Historic Hillsborough Commission's semiannual meeting on May 21, 1966, restoration committee chairman James Webb reviewed the completed first phase of work on the Burwell School and presented plans for a second phase to begin at once. Three high school seniors who had won the commission's 1966 history essay contest were guests. People: Mary Claire Engstrom Internet Archive: "Historical News", North Carolina Historical Review 43 (1966), p. 463
  19. Burwell School is listed in the National Register On September 15, 1970 the National Park Service listed Burwell School in Hillsborough in the National Register of Historic Places. NC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Burwell School, National Register nomination (OR0004)
  20. Robin Andrews chairs the Orange County Bicentennial Steering Committee Roberta (Robin) Andrews chaired Orange County's steering committee for the national Bicentennial. She also raised money to restore the Burwell School in Hillsborough. NC Historic Preservation Office: Heather Fearnbach, Troy M. and Roberta C. Andrews House, National Register nomination (draft, 2026), section 8, p. 23
  21. The Burwell School opens to visitors The restored house has been open to visitors every year since 1977. Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School: virtual exhibit timeline
  22. Burwell School Historic Site marks the bicentennial of Elizabeth Keckly Through 2018 the Burwell School Historic Site in Hillsborough marked the 200th anniversary of Keckly's birth with an exhibition that included an original copy of her memoir and a replica of a purple velvet dress she made, sewn by local seamstress Karen DeSombre. News of Orange County: Burwell School Historic Site honors life of Elizabeth Keckly
  23. Hillsborough holds a celebration of Billy Strayhorn A day of events called A Celebration of Billy Strayhorn began at the historical marker on South Churton Street and ran on at the Orange County Main Library and the Burwell School Historic Site. Mayor Tom Stevens, the musician Yahyah Corbett, the choreographer David Rousseve, the Duke professor Thomas DeFrantz and the puppeteer Jeghetto took part. People: Tom Stevens North Carolina Arts Council: Hillsborough Celebrates Hometown Musical Great Billy Strayhorn
  24. The Burwell School is renamed the Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School The Burwell School Historic Site in Hillsborough took the name the Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School in late August 2026, honoring the woman the Burwells held in slavery in the house from 1835. Site director Elizabeth Hays said the aim was to hold the site's histories together. Chapelboro: Hillsborough's Burwell School Adopts New Name to Honor Enslaved Dressmaker

Open these in the chronology →

Deeds

4 deeds from the county’s deed books that bear on this site, from Mark Chilton’s published abstracts. The note under each says why: the site’s survey file or National Register nomination cites it, it names the site, or it passes the site’s land along the chain of title the survey traces. Each deed’s page links to its deed-book page at the Register of Deeds.

Search every historic deed →

Research sources

Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Investigate a school or community institution.

Background 14

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National Register files 6

Historic sites, markers, and maps

Records of the time 10

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Collections and databases

Local help

Nearby

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