By Mrs. Thomas H. Hamilton
Far back in the early days of the republic, 130 years ago, the scattered settlers in Orange county would not have believed it possible if someone had prophesied to them the present village and university campus. And the citizen who travels over the concrete road from Durham to Chapel Hill today finds it equally hard to visualize the scene of 1793.
Then the Hill was covered with a primeval forest with only a few cleared fields. It was important, however, because the narrow trail winding through the trees form the south, from Pittsboro, was the road to Hillsboro. It went past the present site of the Peabody building, Swain Hall, across the campus to the Episcopal church, and thence by its windings to Hillsboro. And from the direction of New Bern, which was then a tiny village, came another narrow road through the forest toward Greensboro. The two roads crossed somewhere back of the campus on the present Pittsboro road. This crossing was a favorite place for travelers to meet and exchange the news.
At Hillsboro, which was the nearest village, was a chapel of the Church of England, which had built tiny chapels throughout the surrounding country where the minister preached at stated times. Here in the northwest corner of this crossroad a small building was erected and named New Hope Chapel after the creek which flows near the hill. Those settlers coming from Purefoy’s mill, in the valley to the south, gave to the place the name of New Hope Chapel Hill, which was later changed to Chapel Hill.
In his History of the University of North Carolina, Dr. Kemp Battle says that the people of Orange county had for the most part migrated from Pennsylvania. He gives their names, histories, and descendants.
In November, 1792, when the commission seeking a site for the university, headed by General Davie, had visited several places, they were traveling along the Hillsboro road and stopped forl uncy by the roadside under the Davie poplar. General Davie was so impressed by the location that the spot was chosen for the seat of the university. We have his own words in enthusiastic praise of the ridge, its beauties, and the surrounding scenery. He also said: “There is nothing more remarkable in this extraordinary place than the abundance of springs of the purest water, which burst from the side of the ridge, and which have been the subjects of admiration both to hunters and travelers ever since the discovery and settlement of this part of the country.”
August 10, 1793, a committee composed of Alfred Moore, General Davie, Fred Hargett, Thomas Blount, Alexander Mebane, John Williams and John Haywood met on Chapel Hill, marked off sites for the university buildings, and then planned and laid off village lots.
After the ceremonies of laying the cornerstone of Old East October 12, 1793, the lots were sold. Dr. Battle gives a detailed account of the size, location and purchasers of each lot.
How different now is the government of the village from that in 1820. Dr. Battle writes that it was a primitive government. All white males between 21 and 50 years of age were distributed into classes and in turn patrolled the streets at night. No slave could be absent from his home unless he had permission from his owner. Shooting firearms was slavery(??) punished. There was to be no Sunday work at one’s ordinary occupation unless in case of necessity. Fines were placed on Sunday buying and selling. The streets were worked by white men between 18 and 45 and negroes between 16 and 50.
From a letter written by William D. Moseley in 1853, found in Dr. Battle’s history, some information of the village then is gathered. “There is one street running east and west called Franklin or Main Street. The Raleigh or Hillsboro road crossed this, that part to the south being Raleigh street and that to t he north being Hillsboro street. In front of the campus was woodland, owned by the university. Columbia street is perpendicular to Franklin in the western part of the village.” He gives also the residences and stores and their owners.
Social life in 1820 in the village was beginning to develop, according to Dr. Battle. The village became considerably larger between 1820 and 1830 when the number of students and faculty increased. Reading clubs were organized among the ladies. Luxury, however, was unknown. Children had but one pair of shoes, handmade ones, and those were worn only in cold weather. Clothing was for the most part homemade. Tallow candles were a luxury. Mr. Kittrell imported the first cotton gin seen in this part of the world, not much larger than a sewing machine.
“Old Father Hughes,” an Englishman, was the village school teacher; he seems to have been a thorough master and a strict disciplinarian.
About 1851 there arose the question as to whether the North Carolina railroad should go through Chapel Hill or pass farter to the north by Hillsboro. The fact that influential persons in Hillsboro were eager for the railroad to pass through there and that the surveying engineer had advised the Hillsboro route, lost this opportunity for Chapel Hill. Dr. Battle says that though President Swain of the university is censured for using his influence to keep the railroad from coming to Chapel Hill, on the ground that it would facilitate the running off of students during term time, the fact was that he favored the railroad. About 1845 another sale of lots was made in the village, which seemed to have begun to prosper. President Swain said that the university did not wish to have further settlements east and south of the campus, hence the growth of the village extended to Rosemary street and began to creep northward.
Chapel Hill now has most of the modern conveniences except sidewalks. A little over a year ago the Durham-Chapel Hill hard surface road was built and was extended through the business section of the town. Many new residences are being built and the recent sale of lots shows that the growth is spreading east and south. The forests have been cut down to a considerable extent. The big old houses set back in shady lawns lend a picturesque charm to the village, and the favorite walks and beauty spots of olden times are as much beloved today as ever.
From page 12 of the Durham Morning Herald, March 4, 1923
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