Orange Co. Celebrates 250th Year

About 300 people -- including state and local officials and county residents -- attended the ceremony in front of the older Orange County Courthouse.

The event honored the 250th anniversary of the first colonial court, the oldest government in Orange County.

At noon, bells all across the county chimed to celebrate the occasion.

The ceremony included traditional music from the string group Mappamundi and statements from UNC Chancellor James Moeser, N.C. novelist Lee Smith and state Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange.

Standing before the audience with fellow state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, Lee praised the county's representation in the General Assembly by both a woman and a black man -- symbolic of Orange County's diversity, he said.

"Two hundred and fifty years ago, I'm not sure either one of us would have been invited to this podium," he said.

Dianne Reid, director of the Orange County Economic Development Commission, said organizers designed the event to celebrate the past and prepare for the future.

"Really the people that will remember this 50 years from now are sitting on the grass here," she said, referring to almost 150 students from Cameron Park Elementary School in Hillsborough packed into clusters on the lawn.

Cameron Park fourth-grade teacher Judy Pounds said the ceremony was a hands-on opportunity for her students to experience their state history curriculum. "Maybe one day these kids will take part (in similar activities) through a legacy," Pounds said.

Chief John Jeffries of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation -- the original inhabitants of the county -- performed a Native American ritual and said the tribe has been a long-time fixture locally. "Two hundred and fifty years ago our people marked the streets have," Jeffries said. "And we are still here. We are here today."

Orange County Board of Commissioners Chairman Barry Jacobs said the county has a rich heritage that includes high points in civil liberties, athletics and education.

Discussing the history of the county, Jacobs injected humor into his account of some of the changes over the years.

"There were no county commissioners in those days, you may be pleased to know," he said, speaking about the first governmental body in 1752.

Orange County originally spanned 3,500 square miles and included all of Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham and Person counties, as well as portions of Guilford, Lee, Randolph, Rockingham and Wake counties. "We'd certainly like that tax base now," Jacobs said.

Moeser reminded the audience that the county predates the University by about 40 years. "As old as UNC is, Orange County was already here," Moeser said.

"We will always remember that our home in North Carolina is Orange County."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.