Storyline · 1979–1991
OWASA leased a stone quarry on N.C. 54 in 1979 as a drought reserve, drew on it when University Lake fell in the 1980 drought, and bought the old American Stone Company quarry in 1981. Vandals drained 10 million gallons from it in 1986. In 1991 neighbors objected to a joint application by American Stone and OWASA to expand the company's quarry into a future reservoir of about 3 billion gallons.
In August 1979 the Orange Water and Sewer Authority leased a stone quarry site on N.C. 54, with an option to buy, as insurance against drought: Phils Creek would fill it in wet weather, and its water could be pumped back toward University Lake. OWASA had two years to learn whether the quarry would hold at least 200 million gallons. In the fall drought of 1980, with University Lake four feet below normal, OWASA began on October 23 to draw on the quarry reservoir, the former American Stone Quarry off N.C. 54. By mid-November the lake was more than five feet down, the quarry supplied up to a third of Chapel Hill's water, and OWASA was buying water from Hillsborough at about $13,500 a month. By July 1981 it had bought the old American Stone Company quarry west of Carrboro as reserve storage for the towns' water.
Over the weekend of July 5 and 6, 1986, during a drought, vandals let out 10 million of the 24 million gallons in the Stone Quarry Reservoir, which was refilled to within two feet of full by Monday with water released from Lake Orange. In October 1991, at a public hearing held by the Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County governments, neighbors of the American Stone Company quarry off N.C. 54 said blasting already cracked their ceilings and asked for maps of the company's plan to open a new granite pit. Under a joint application with OWASA, the expanded quarry would later become a reservoir of about 3 billion gallons; the plan meant moving an asphalt plant and shifting Bethel-Hickory Grove Church Road east.
Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.
No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are the most widely held histories of the theme it is filed under, so they may not discuss it. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Elisha Mitchell, the University of North Carolina professor for whom Mount Mitchell is named, as botanist and as observer of early Chapel Hill, in a study by Rogers McVaugh, Michael R. McVaugh and Mary Ayers. It covers Mitchell's botanical knowledge, the plants of Chapel Hill and the town's historical geography. Published by the Botanical Garden Foundation in Chapel Hill in 1996, 122 pages with illustrations and maps.
Architectural and historical inventory of Carrboro by Claudia Roberts Brown, published in 1983 by the Carrboro Appearance Commission and the town. The 48-page survey, with illustrations and maps, documents the town's historic buildings and their conservation.
Collected first-hand and second-hand stories from the Eno River valley as told from the standpoint of African Americans and Native people who have lived along the river in Orange and Durham counties, from prehistory to the present day. Issued by the Eno River Association in Durham as volume 10, number 2 of the Eno Journal, 2021, 106 pages with illustrations.
Emily Eidenier Pearce's history of Rogers Road, the historically African American neighborhood on the edge of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and of what happened to it after Orange County opened its landfill next door in 1972. Drawing on interviews with residents, the book records the neighborhood's origins, family life, churches and customs, and then the environmental and social burdens of decades beside the landfill. Privately issued in 2009, 298 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.
David Cook collects the grim side of the Eno River's past in Orange and Durham counties: ghost stories, crimes, train wrecks and accidents, including the hanging of rebels near the river in 1771, a sawmill accident said to have started a run of hauntings, and a dance one Valentine's Day that ended badly. Published by The History Press in 2025, 141 pages with illustrations.
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.
Address by Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough on 24 August 1924, marking the parish's hundredth anniversary. Printed in Durham in 1925 at the vestry's order, with a foreword by the rector. Cheshire discusses George Micklejohn, William Mercer Green and Moses Ashley Curtis.
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.
Departmental history of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill covering its first fifty years, published by the department in 2000. The history covers medical schools, medical education and the teaching of obstetrics in North Carolina. First edition, xvii and 366 pages with illustrations and portraits.
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.
Michael McIntyre's 23-minute documentary video on the Eno River and Eno River State Park, produced in Durham in 1993 with support from the Duke University Institute of the Arts. It covers the river's past, its geology and the effort to preserve it, including the Indigenous peoples of the Eno River region. The container credits it with the 1993 Hal Kammerer Film and Video Award at Duke. VHS videocassette, color with sound.
Mary Claire Engstrom's history of the Quaker settlers of the Eno River valley from about 1750 to 1847, in the country that is now Orange and Durham counties. Published by the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley in Durham in 1989, 73 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.
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. “OWASA’s quarry reservoir, 1979–1991.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/quarry-reservoir-storyline-1979/. Accessed October 22, 2026.
