Orange County Trio: Histories and Tour Guides (Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Carrboro) by Elizabeth Shreve Ryan; 2004. Softcover. (CO-NC)

Inspired by ghost tales set in Orange County, North Carolina, and by her own experience as a resident of Chapel Hill, Elizabeth Shreve Ryan conceived the idea for Orange County Trio, a historical narrative of the inception and growth of Orange County’s three major towns. A substantial text covering the history of these towns in matters such as commerce, politics, influential people, and architecture, Orange County Trio not only stands alone as a wealth of interesting historical facts, but also provides the reader with complete, easy-to-follow sightseeing guides and maps. The "trio" of Orange County includes Hillsborough, Chapel Hill—both founded in the eighteenth century—and Carrboro, which was founded in the early 1900s. Each town has its own special history and character. Orange County at one time encompassed not only the current location, but also areas that are now Durham, Chatham, Alamance, Caswell, and Person Counties as well as portions of Wake, Guilford, Randolph, Lee and Rockingham. Hillsborough, the county seat, is littered with historical markers of notable places, such as the Occaneechi Village, the eighteenth-century paper mill, and the location where the Regulators were hanged in 1771. Chapel Hill houses the University of North Carolina, our country’s first state university—the town’s growth has been closely intertwined with the university since its beginning. Ryan devotes equal time to both the town and the university in her work. Carrboro’s birth resulted from the North Carolina Railroad’s construction of ten-mile tracks that extended to the western edge of Chapel Hill. Tourists can still visit Carrboro Railroad Station nearly one hundred years after its erection.