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Churches and lodges

Efland Presbyterian Church

In Efland. 6 dated events, 1908–1959.

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.

In the chronology

  1. Efland Presbyterian Church is organized Presbyterians at Efland organized a church and built a 150-seat building in 1910. Lefler and Wager date the organization to November 1, 1908; a 1959 News of Orange account of the new church says it was organized on November 1, 1909 with 20 members. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 295 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 22, 1959, p. 1
  2. Efland Presbyterian Church completes its first building Two years after twenty charter members organized the church under M. C. Arrowood, the congregation finished its first church at Efland. Women of the Church of Orange Presbytery, Celebrating Our History (1988), scan p. 24
  3. Will Ed Thompson's will leaves most of his estate to the Efland Presbyterian Church The will of Will Ed Thompson, a wealthy property owner known across Orange and Alamance counties as an eccentric, was filed for probate five days after his death and put most of his estate, first estimated at about $500,000, in a trust for the Efland Presbyterian Church and its cemetery, beginning with a mausoleum for himself. Six nieces and nephews were left $5,000 each, three of them shared his 502-acre farm in Cheeks Township, and executor Clarence Ross of Graham received $10,000. People: W. E. Thompson The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 19, 1953, p. 1
  4. Will Ed Thompson's mausoleum at Efland Presbyterian Church is finished but stands empty The brick and marble mausoleum that Will Ed Thompson's will ordered for his body was completed across the highway from Efland Presbyterian Church, but he still lay in the Chestnut Ridge church cemetery where his family buried him in 1953. Executor Clarence Ross sued to move the body; the Chestnut Ridge Memorial Association asked for damages and costs and said Ross had not disclosed the will's burial terms before the funeral. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 16, 1956, p. 1
  5. Dr. D. Efland Forrest, former Hillsborough physician, dies Dr. D. Efland Forrest of Efland, a former practicing physician in Hillsboro, was found dead in the back seat of his car on a muddy road off the US 70 bypass near Durham; the county coroner ruled he died of natural causes. After a funeral led by the Rev. C. H. Reckard, he was buried in the Efland Presbyterian Church cemetery. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 15, 1959, p. 1
  6. Efland Presbyterian Church dedicates a new sanctuary A large bequest from a member's estate in 1952 let the congregation replace its worn 1910 church with a new building, dedicated on January 25, 1959. Women of the Church of Orange Presbytery, Celebrating Our History (1988), scan p. 24

Open these in the chronology →

Indexed works

The index has no works about Efland Presbyterian Church itself yet. The surveys and maps below cover where it stands. Search the index for Efland Presbyterian Church, or tell us about a book or record we have missed.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Efland Presbyterian Church 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.

History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina

Mattson, Richard L. · 1996 · Unpublished manuscript

Richard L. Mattson's manuscript survey of the history and architecture of Orange County, completed in September 1996. Its 78 pages cover the county's historic buildings and structures and end with a bibliography.

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

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

Orange County multiple property documentation form: "Historic resources of Orange County."

1993

National Register multiple property documentation form on the historic resources of Orange County, completed in 1993. Kelly Lally and M. Ruth Little led the first phase of the survey, and Jody Carter and Todd Peck the second. It runs 123 pages with a bibliography.

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

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

[Architectural field surveys for Orange County : collected for the Historic and architectural resources of the Tar-Neuse River basin report]

1974 · Survey and Planning Branch, Historic Preservation Section, Division of Archives and History

Historic building survey forms for Orange County gathered in 1974 by the state's Historic Preservation Section for a report on the Tar-Neuse River basin. About 400 pages of forms covering buildings in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the countryside; a form can carry a description, historical notes, location, a photograph and a floor plan.

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

Map of Orange County, N.C.

Tate, George W. · 1891 · George W. Tate

Facsimile, dated 1940, of George W. Tate's 1891 map of Orange County. It shows towns, roads, railroads such as the North Carolina Rail Road and the Chapel Hill line, residences, schools, churches, mills and mines, with portraits and pictures of buildings in the margins.

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

A map of Orange County, N.C.

Noble, M. C. S. (Marcus Cicero Stephens), 1855-1942 · 1915

Marcus Cicero Stephens Noble drew this 1915 map to show how Orange County's original territory was divided, tracing the formation of Caswell, Person, Alamance, Durham, Chatham, Randolph, Guilford and Rockingham counties out of it. Topics include county boundaries and the history of political divisions in the Piedmont. Surviving as a photocopy on a sheet 31 by 23 centimeters.

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

UNC

Soil map, North Carolina, Orange County sheet

United States · 1918 · United States Government Printing Office

Color soil map of Orange County issued in 1918 by the U.S. Government Printing Office at one inch to the mile, 68 by 46 cm. Besides soil types it marks roads and railroads, the Southern Railway among them, churches, schools, mills, stores, cotton gins, iron mines, cemeteries and the county home, and it names the townships of Bingham, Cedar Grove, Chapel Hill, Cheeks, Eno, Hillsborough and Little River.

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

Show 1 more surveys and maps

Map of Orange County, N.C. : 1939

Stanaland, E. A. · 1939 · E.A. Stanaland

Hand colored map of Orange County drawn by E. A. Stanaland and published at Parrott, Georgia, in 1939. It shows towns and townships, roads and railroads, and marks the schools and churches standing in the county. One sheet, 58 by 36 centimeters.

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

UNC

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

Start at OCPL

    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention Efland Presbyterian Church, 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

    • Foundational · NC 975.656 ORA Orange County--1752-1952 1953

      Hugh Talmage Lefler and Paul W. Wager's history of Orange County across its first two centuries, 1752 to 1952, prepared for the county's bicentennial. It covers government and politics, biography and the county's families, and doubles as a genealogical reference. Published in Chapel Hill by the Orange Printshop in 1953, 389 pages with illustrations and an index; this copy is a later reprint.

    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 917.56 ORANGE An Inventory Of Sites Of Cultural, Historic, Recreational, Biological, And Geological Significance In The Unincorporated Portions Of Orange County Orange County (N.C.) · 1986

      County planning department survey of significant sites in the unincorporated parts of Orange County, published in 1988, 95 pages with maps. The survey covers cemeteries, church buildings and archaeological sites on the cultural side, and plants, animals, endangered species, wildlife refuges, geology and recreation areas on the natural side. Useful for local historians, genealogists tracing burial grounds and land planners alike.

    • Foundational · NC 363.69 HIS Historic Preservation Element: Orange County Comprehensive Plan ; Orange County, North Carolina Orange County (N.C.) · 1996

      The historic preservation element of Orange County's comprehensive plan, prepared for the county Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Department by the Jaeger Company of Gainesville, Georgia, and adopted on 1 April 1996. Partly financed by National Park Service funds through the state Division of Archives and History, it sets county policy on historic buildings and sites and their conservation. 59 pages plus 50 unnumbered, with illustrations and maps, some folded and in color.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Start here · NC 333.16 CHILTON The Land Grant Atlas of Old Orange County Chilton, Mark · 2012

      Mark Chilton's oversized atlas plotting eighteenth-century land grants across the original Orange County, which stretched well beyond today's boundaries into what became Alamance and Durham counties. Published in Carrboro by Hand Made Books beginning in 2012, the set was planned in four volumes: Henry McCulloh's great tract number 11 and the land north of it; the Saxapahaw old fields (volume 2); Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the Johnston Tract; and Durham, Rougemont and McCulloh's tract number 12. Maps and color illustrations, 41 cm.

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 929.509 STO Tombstone Inscriptions: Recorded From Private or Abandoned Cemeteries in Alamance and Orange Counties, North Carolina Stokes, Durward T. · 1979

      Durward T. Stokes's transcriptions of tombstone inscriptions from private and abandoned cemeteries in Alamance and Orange counties, dated at Graham, N.C., August 25, 1979. A photocopied typescript of 60 leaves with 10 preliminary pages, it preserves names and dates from family and neglected burial grounds and is a genealogical source for both counties.

    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.

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 9

    Show all 9

    Collections and databases 5

    Local help 5

    Nearby

    Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
    Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026