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Businesses, mills and venues

Ja-Max Motor Lodge

The Ja-Max Motor Lodge is the long one-story motel on US 70 northwest of Hillsborough that James and Maxine Freeland opened in 1952 and named for themselves, with parking at each guest's door and a hipped roof and stone veneer borrowed from the Ranch house. It is one of the town's few surviving mid-century motels.

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 and Maxine Freeland open the Ja-Max Motor Lodge on US 70 James Freeland opened the Ja-Max Motor Lodge, named for him and his wife Maxine, on US 70 in the Fairview community at the end of February 1953: twelve units of native stone and white siding, each with a private bath, and a pine-panelled lobby with a television. The 2017 architectural survey, which dates the building to 1952, notes that guests parked at their own doors and that its hipped roof, stone veneer and horizontal-pane windows borrow from the Ranch house. It was probably the first of Freeland's motels, a string that later ran to Durham, Mebane and Roxboro and included Chapel Hill's Tar Heel Motel. People: James J. Freeland NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 20 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 5, 1953, p. 1
  2. The Ja-Max Motor Lodge has passed to William Hopewell By the start of 1962 the Freelands' Ja-Max Motor Lodge on US 70 was owned by William Hopewell, who donated two signs to be put up on Interstate 85 pointing travelers to historic Hillsboro, with space beneath for local businesses to rent. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 4, 1962, p. 2
  3. The Hillsborough survey proposes the Ja-Max Motor Lodge for the state Study List The survey report recommended the 1952 motel on US 70 for North Carolina's National Register Study List as one of the town's few surviving mid-century motels. It cited the eleven rooms, each with its own bath and parking at the door, the lamp-lined drive, and Ranch-house features rarely used on a commercial building, and proposed a 2.87-acre boundary. The National Register Advisory Committee added the motel to the Study List on October 12, 2017. People: James J. Freeland NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 41 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee, October 12, 2017, list of approved properties
  4. The Rocks in Chapel Hill and Cedar Grove School join the Study List Among nine central and southeastern public requests approved on October 12, 2017 were William C. Coker's house, The Rocks, in Chapel Hill and the Cedar Grove School north of Hillsborough. The same meeting placed the Hillsborough survey's Ja-Max Motor Lodge and Military Academy dining hall site on the list. People: William Chambers Coker NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 1418

Open these in the chronology →

Indexed works

The index has no works about Ja-Max Motor Lodge itself yet. The surveys and maps below cover where it stands. Search the index for Ja-Max Motor Lodge, or tell us about a book or record we have missed.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Ja-Max Motor Lodge 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 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

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 Ja-Max Motor Lodge, 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.

    • 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.

    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.

    Show 1 more
    • 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.

    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.

    Background

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 5

    Collections and databases

    Local help 5

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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