Chatham County, North Carolina
Chatham County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In 2000, 49,329 people lived there. Now the population is more than 60,000. Its county seat is Pittsboro.
Chatham County, North Carolina | |
Map | |
Location in the state of North Carolina | |
North Carolina's location in the U.S. | |
Statistics | |
Founded | 1771 |
---|---|
Seat | Pittsboro |
Largest town | Siler City |
Area - Total - Land - Water |
710 sq mi (1,839 km²) 682 sq mi (1,766 km²) 28 sq mi (73 km²), 3.9% |
Population - (2010) - Density |
63,505 93/sq mi (36/km²) |
Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 |
Website: www.chathamnc.org | |
Named for: William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham |
History
The county was made in 1771 from Orange County.
In 1907 parts of Chatham County and Moore County were combined to form Lee County.
Government
Chatham County is part of the regional Triangle J Council of Governments.
Schools
Chatham County has its own public school system for grades kindergarten to 12. Central Carolina Community College also has two campuses in the county.
Coal Mines
Chatham County has the only coal mines in North Carolina. Coal mining used to be very important to the county, but in the 1920s a bad accident in one of the mines killed many workers. By the 1940s all the mines had closed. Some people have tried to open the mines back up, but the mines are too dangerous. Right now none of the mines are open.
New Houses
Many builders are building new houses in Chatham County right now. Some people in the county do not like this because they do not want Chatham County to have a lot of people. A lot of people want to live in Chatham County because they do not have to pay as much tax as people in other North Carolina counties do. But other people think it is good that a lot of people want to live in the county because then the county will make more money from taxes.
Connected Counties
- Orange County, North Carolina - north
- Durham County, North Carolina - northeast
- Wake County, North Carolina - east
- Harnett County, North Carolina - southeast
- Lee County, North Carolina - south
- Moore County, North Carolina - southwest
- Randolph County, North Carolina - west
- Alamance County, North Carolina - northwest
Cities and Towns
These cities and towns are in Chatham County:
Roads
These are the most important roads in Chatham County:
Chatham County, North Carolina Media
Former Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro
Other websites
- Chatham County Government
- Chatham County Travel Website
- Chatham Journal Newspaper
- Chatham Online Bulletin Board Archived 2008-03-04 at the Wayback Machine