Storyline · 1900–1906
Convicts did much of the work at the Southern Stone Company's quarry on Occoneechee Mountain, begun in the late 1800s, whose gravel surfaced Hillsborough's sidewalks and crossings by 1902. In early 1903 more than a hundred state convicts came from Mitchell County, and another gang from Raleigh, to get out stone for ballasting the North Carolina Railroad. That April a guard shot dead a convict named Stevens, who was serving thirty years for murder, when he broke for liberty. In January 1904 the state convicts were taken back to the penitentiary at Raleigh. In August 1906 nearly thirty Italian workers came to work in the quarry, and quarrying on the mountain went on at least until about 1910.
Around the turn of the century the Southern Stone Company of Culpeper, Virginia ran a quarry on Occoneechee Mountain that had been begun in the late 1800s. Convicts did much of the work, and a narrow-gauge rail bed ran on three levels down to a rock crusher by the river. By September 1902 Mayor Norwood had surfaced Hillsborough's sidewalks and crossings with gravel from the Southern Stone Company's works. In late January 1903 more than a hundred state convicts were brought from Mitchell County to get out stone on the mountain for ballasting the North Carolina Railroad, and another gang came from Raleigh in February. On April 27, 1903, as the convicts went to dinner at the stone works, a guard named Blake shot dead a white state convict named Stevens, who was serving thirty years for murder, when he broke for liberty. On January 20, 1904 the state convicts who had been getting out ballast at Hillsboro for the Southern Railway were taken back to the penitentiary at Raleigh, and the Southern Broken Stone Company was to suspend work for a month or so. In early August 1906 nearly thirty Italian workers came to Hillsboro to work in the company's quarry at Occoneechee Mountain. Quarrying on the mountain went on at least until about 1910.
Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.
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.
No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are about the sites and people its dated events name, those named most often first, so they may discuss the storyline only in part. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Emily Lin's small artist's book of haiku and nature photographs from a hike at Occoneechee Mountain near Hillsborough on 28 May 2017. Issued as a zine by Dodo Bookshop that year, nine pages and three unnumbered with color illustrations, 17 centimeters.
A 2005 map of Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, the preserve at the edge of Hillsborough where the Eno River passes the highest point in Orange County. Trails, boundaries and park facilities are what such a sheet shows. Covering parks in Hillsborough, it is a short field piece and not a narrative about the mountain.
Printed in 1994, a single sheet street map of Hillsborough made to show the way to Occoneechee Mountain Park, with the park's location marked. It measures 28 by 22 centimeters.
A 1994 map of Occoneechee Mountain Park at Hillsborough, printed with a description of the park and its regulations on the verso. The sheet measures 19 by 25 cm. Published simply under the name of the committee behind it, it served as a handout for park visitors.
Stewart E. Dunaway's history of the two mills George Johnston built on New Hope Creek in Orange County, the first in 1793 and the second in 1820, the earlier of which he sold to the Englishman William Robson. Self-published in 2010, 256 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles. Topics include gristmills in Orange County and the Blackwood, Johnston, Robinson and Robson families, so the volume serves both mill history and genealogy.
Jennifer Fleischner's double biography of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who had been enslaved, including years in Hillsborough, before buying her freedom and becoming the First Lady's confidante. Published by Broadway Books in New York in 2003, 372 pages with illustrations and a map. Topics include enslaved women in Hillsborough and the United States, dressmakers and women's friendships in the nineteenth century.
Stewart E. Dunaway's 2010 study of Patterson Mill, a gristmill site on New Hope Creek where Orange County meets Chatham County. The book pairs a short genealogy of the Patterson family with a close survey of what remains of the mill on land now inside Duke Forest, supported by maps, facsimile documents and illustrations across 176 pages. Self-published in a second issue dated October 10, 2010.
Albert N. Link's early history of Research Triangle Park, published in 1995 by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. Topics include research parks, research institutes and industrial research in the state, with the park's own history at the center. 149 pages with illustrations and maps.
Albert N. Link's history of the Research Triangle Park, the research park founded to draw on the universities at Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh, published in 2002 by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina in 278 pages with illustrations. Topics include research parks, research institutes and industrial research in North Carolina and the history of the park itself.
Beverly A. Scarlett's 2024 study of a free community of color in nineteenth-century Orange County, drawing on apprenticeship and freedmen's records among other county sources.
Exhibit publication from the Orange County Historical Museum for its special exhibit on working life, shown in Hillsborough from March to December 2024 and concerned with the county's trades and industrial arts. Produced by the museum in 2024, it documents Orange County and Hillsborough history through the work people did.
Hsi-Chu Bolick's 2010 account of the East Asian collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, printed as an article running from page 280 to page 292 with illustrations and portraits. Topics include East Asian libraries in Chapel Hill, library resources for East Asia, and the university's cooperation with Duke in building the collection.
Mark Chilton's short account of the water mills that once stood on Bolin and Morgan creeks in Orange County, prepared to accompany a talk given to the Chapel Hill Historical Society on January 27, 2008. Seven unnumbered pages with a folded plate, color illustrations and a map.
Account of student protest in 1960s Chapel Hill, published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007 with illustrations. It draws together the civil rights movement and segregation in the town, discrimination in restaurants, academic freedom and university autonomy, protest against the Vietnam War, Students for a Democratic Society and the Black Student Movement on campus.
Sara Regan Lachenman's 2005 thesis on how the people living in Carrboro's company built housing altered it to suit themselves. It takes up domestic architecture, working class housing and the social side of the textile industry in the town, with 158 pages of text and illustrations.
Tanya Smith Brice studies how North Carolina's juvenile justice system treated African American girls between 1890 and 1930, naming among its institutions the North Carolina Industrial School for Negro Girls at Efland in Orange County. Health and hygiene, juvenile delinquency and the state's social conditions are among its subjects. A 2003 typescript of 89 leaves with a bibliography on the closing pages.
Each dated event above names its source, the place to start. For finding more on an event across newspapers, records and histories, see the research guide Follow an event across several accounts. Ask at the North Carolina Room of the Orange County Public Library for help with local sources.
Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “The Occoneechee Mountain quarry, its convicts and its Italian laborers, 1900–1906.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/occoneechee-quarry-storyline-1900/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
