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Businesses, mills and venues

General Johnston Motel and General Sherman Restaurant

The General Joseph E. Johnston Motel and the General Sherman Restaurant were roadside businesses that builder James Freeland put up in 1960 and 1961 on opposite sides of US 70 near the new Interstate 85, beside his Holiday Ice Rink. In June 1963 the motel was among eleven Durham-area motels that agreed to admit Black guests.

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.

Sites linked through the same people

In the chronology

  1. James Freeland builds the General Joseph E. Johnston Motel at US 70 and Interstate 85 Builder James Freeland put up the General Joseph E. Johnston Motel on US 70 near the new Interstate 85, part of a roadside group with his ice rink and, across the highway, the General Sherman Restaurant. People: James J. Freeland The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 8, 1960, p. 12 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 23, 1961, p. 3
  2. James Freeland opens his rebuilt Holiday Ice Rink beside the General Johnston Motel James Freeland opened a new 65 by 180 foot Holiday Ice Rink on US 70 three miles west of Durham, replacing a rink whose roof had caved in under snow the winter before. It stood next to his new General Johnston Motel. People: James J. Freeland The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 8, 1960, p. 12 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 8, 1960, p. 4
  3. James Freeland's General Sherman Restaurant opens at US 70 and Interstate 85 The General Sherman Restaurant, built by James Freeland across the highway from his General Joseph E. Johnston Motel, opened around the clock and was billed as Orange County's newest. Its advertising placed it a mile and a half from Bennett Place, where Johnston surrendered to Sherman in 1865. It became a common place for Democratic Party dinners and club luncheons in the early 1960s. People: James J. Freeland The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 2, 1961, p. 6 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 9, 1961, p. 8
  4. Orange County's fourth ABC store opens at US 70 and Interstate 85 Orange County's fourth and largest ABC liquor store opened beside the General Sherman Restaurant, half a mile from the Durham County line. James Freeland built the colonial-style building and leased it to the county board; it was said to be the only ABC store in North Carolina on an interstate highway. People: James J. Freeland The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 23, 1961, p. 3 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 12, 1961, p. 5; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 2, 1961, p. 6
  5. James Freeland hosts the Orange Democrats' announcement party at the General Sherman About 150 people, most of the county's Democratic leaders, came to a gathering James Freeland put on at his General Sherman Restaurant, which party chairman L. J. Phipps called "an announcement party." Sheriff C. D. Knight said he had filed for his first election, Register of Deeds Betty June Hayes said she would seek re-election, and Lee Kennedy had filed for county commissioner. People: James J. Freeland, Luther James Phipps The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 25, 1962, p. 1
  6. T. P. Smith and his wife take over the General Sherman Restaurant T. P. Smith, just retired after 20 years in the State Highway Patrol, and his wife Betsy, who had supervised the Cameron Park School lunchroom, took over running the General Sherman Restaurant on Interstate 85 at US 70. In May 1963 she was named lunchroom manager for the new Orange High School. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 1, 1962, p. 9
  7. Orange Democrats raise about $900 at a dinner in the General Sherman's Confederate Room About 150 Democrats heard Secretary of State Thad Eure, Congressman Horace Kornegay, Insurance Commissioner Edwin Lanier and former Congressman Carl Durham at the county party's fund-raising buffet and dance in the Confederate Room of the General Sherman Restaurant. It netted about $900 for the state party's drive, against an Orange quota of $500. People: Thad Eure, Luther James Phipps, Carl T. Durham The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 27, 1962, p. 2
  8. The General Joseph E. Johnston Motel is among motels that agree to admit Black guests The Carolinian, a Raleigh weekly, reported that all eleven motels in the Durham area had agreed to admit Black guests, among them the General Joseph Johnston Motel, which James Freeland had built in 1960 and which was then run by another operator. People: James J. Freeland The Carolinian (Raleigh), June 8, 1963, p. 2
  9. Orange Democrats choose Edwin J. Hamlin for the state House by one vote Meeting over dinner at the General Sherman Restaurant, the county Democratic executive committee nominated Edwin J. Hamlin, publisher of the News of Orange County, over Young Democrats president Fred Cates by 28 to 27 to succeed L. J. Phipps in the state House. Governor Sanford was to appoint him for an expected special session on Senate redistricting. People: Luther James Phipps, Terry Sanford The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 4, 1963, p. 1

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Indexed works

The index has no works about General Johnston Motel and General Sherman Restaurant itself yet. The surveys and maps below cover where it stands. Search the index for General Johnston Motel and General Sherman Restaurant, or tell us about a book or record we have missed.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about General Johnston Motel and General Sherman Restaurant 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. : 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

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    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention General Johnston Motel and General Sherman Restaurant, 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.

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Research a business or a changing street.

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 10

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    Collections and databases

    Local help

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    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