Chapel Hill is a town in
Orange,
Durham and
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
counties in the
U.S. state of
North Carolina. Its population was 61,960 in the
2020 census, making Chapel Hill the
17th-largest municipality in the state. Chapel Hill,
Durham, and the state capital,
Raleigh, make up the corners of the
Research Triangle (officially the Raleigh–Durham–Cary
combined statistical area), with a total population of 1,998,808.
The town was founded in 1793 and is centered on
Franklin Street, covering . It contains several districts and buildings listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. The
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
UNC Health Care are a major part of the economy and town influence. Local artists have created
many murals.
History
The area was the home place of early settler William Barbee of
Middlesex County, Virginia
Middlesex County is a county located on the Middle Peninsula in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,625. Its county seat is Saluda.
History
This area was long settled by indigenous peoples; those encount ...
, whose 1753 grant of 585 acres from
John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville was the first of two land grants in what is now the Chapel Hill-Durham area. Though William Barbee died shortly after settling there, one of his eight children, Christopher Barbee, became an important contributor to his father's adopted community and to the fledgling
University of North Carolina.
![Back-of-Franklin-St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Back-of-Franklin-St.jpg)
Chapel Hill has developed along a hill; the crest was the original site of a small Anglican "
chapel of ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.
Often a chapel of ea ...
", built in 1752, known as New Hope Chapel.
The Carolina Inn
The Carolina Inn is a hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Orange County, North Carolina, which opened in 1924. The Carolina Inn is a member of Historic Hotels ...
now occupies this site. In 1819, the town was founded to serve the University of North Carolina and developed around it. The town was chartered in 1851, and its main street, Franklin Street, was named in memory of
Benjamin Franklin.
In 1969, a year after the city fully integrated its schools, Chapel Hill elected
Howard Lee as mayor. It was the first majority-white municipality in the South to elect an African-American mayor.
Serving from 1969 to 1975, Lee helped establish
Chapel Hill Transit
Chapel Hill Transit operates public bus and van transportation services within the contiguous municipalities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the southeast corner of Orange County in ...
, the town's bus system.
Some 30 years later, in 2002, the state passed legislation to provide free service to all riders on local buses. The bus operations are funded through Chapel Hill and Carrboro town taxes, federal grants, and UNC student tuition. The change has resulted in a large increase in ridership, taking many cars off the roads. Several hybrid and articulated buses have been added recently. All buses carry GPS transmitters to report their location in real-time to a tracking web site. Buses can transport bicycles and have wheelchair lifts.
In 1993, the town celebrated its bicentennial and founded the
Chapel Hill Museum
Chapel Hill Museum was a local cultural and historical museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The museum was founded in 1996 by leaders of the Town of Chapel Hill's Bicentennial Committee and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006. In the decade ...
. This cultural community resource "exhibiting the character and characters of Chapel Hill, North Carolina" includes among its permanent exhibits ''Alexander Julian'', ''History of the Chapel Hill Fire Department'', ''Chapel Hill's 1914 Fire Truck'', ''The
James Taylor Story'', ''Farmer/James Pottery'', and ''The
Paul Green Legacy''.
In addition to the Carolina Inn, the
Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House,
Chapel Hill Historic District,
Chapel Hill Town Hall
Chapel Hill Town Hall is a historic town hall located at Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina. It built in 1938, and is a two-story, red brick, Colonial Revival style building. It has a full basement and a hipped slate roof topped by an oc ...
,
Chapel of the Cross,
Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District,
Alexander Hogan Plantation
Alexander Hogan Plantation is a historic archaeological site located near Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina. The site was inhabited between 1838 and 1890, and consists of four stone outbuilding foundations, a chimney fall, and a cemeter ...
,
Old Chapel Hill Cemetery,
Old East, University of North Carolina,
Playmakers Theatre
The Playmakers Theatre, originally Smith Hall, is a historic academic building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Built in 1850, it was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture, as an important ex ...
,
Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District, and
West Chapel Hill Historic District
The West Chapel Hill Historic District is a national historic district in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The district comprises several small neighborhoods and is roughly bounded by West Cameron Avenue, Malette Street, Ransom Street, Pittsboro St ...
are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Geography and climate
Chapel Hill is located in the southeast corner of
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
. It is bounded on the west by the town of
Carrboro and on the northeast by the city of Durham. However, most of Chapel Hill's borders are adjacent to unincorporated portions of Orange and Durham Counties rather than shared with another municipality. According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is covered by water. University Lake is part of the town's public water supply.
Demographics
Durham, North Carolina, is the core of the four-county Durham-Chapel Hill
MSA, which has a population of 504,357 as of Census 2010. The US Office of Management and Budget also includes Chapel Hill as a part of the Raleigh-Durham-
Cary Combined Statistical Area, which has a population of 1,749,525 as of Census 2010. Effective June 6, 2003, the
Office of Management and Budget redefined the federal statistical areas and dismantled what had been for decades the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill MSA, and split them into two separate MSAs, though the region functions as a single metropolitan area.
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census
The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
, there were 61,960 people, 20,369 households, and 10,552 families residing in the town.
2010 census
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 57,233 people in 20,564 households resided in Chapel Hill. The population density was 2,687 people per square mile (1037/km). The
racial composition
A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
of the town was 72.8% White, 9.7% African American, 0.3% Native American, 11.9% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.7% some other race, and 2.7% of two or more races. About 6.4% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 20,564 households, 51.1% were families, 26.2% of all households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were headed by married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.9% were not families. About 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the town, the population was distributed as 17.4% under the age of 18, 31.5% from 18 to 24, 23.6% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males.
According to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau, over the three-year period of 2005 through 2007, the median income for a household in the town was $51,690, and for a family was $91,049. Males had a median income of $50,258 versus $32,917 for females. The ''per capita'' income for the town was $35,796. About 8.6% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.6% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.
Chapel Hill is North Carolina's best-educated municipality, proportionately, with 77% of adult residents (25 and older) holding an
associate degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
The fi ...
or higher, and 73% of adults possessing a
baccalaureate degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...
or higher.
Government
Chapel Hill uses a
council-manager form of government. The community elects a mayor and eight council members. Mayors serve two-year terms, and council members serve staggered four-year terms, all elected by the city at large; city elections are held in November of odd-numbered eyars. Mayor
Pam Hemminger, a former board of education member, was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2017, 2019, and 2021. She is currently serving her fourth term. She defeated incumbent
Mark Kleinschmidt, who in 2009 had been elected the first openly gay mayor of Chapel Hill, succeeding outgoing four-term Mayor Kevin Foy.
The town adopted its flag in 1990. According to flag designer Spring Davis, the blue represents the town and the University of North Carolina (whose colors are
Carolina blue and white); the green represents "environmental awareness"; and the "townscape" in the inverted chevron represents "a sense of home, friends, and community."
The town's seal, has, since the 1930's, depicted Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and protector of cities. Having gone through several revisions, the seal, which also serves as the town logo, was most recently updated in 2005 to a visually simpler version.
Education
![Carol Building in UNC-Chapel Hill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Carol_Building_in_UNC-Chapel_Hill.jpg)
The
Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district covers most of the towns of Chapel Hill and
Carrboro, along with portions of unincorporated Orange County, and is recognized for its academic strengths.
East Chapel Hill High School
East Chapel Hill High School ("East") is a public high school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is the second high school of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district, which also contains Chapel Hill High School and Carrboro High Schoo ...
,
Carrboro High School
Carrboro High School is located in Carrboro, North Carolina, United States. It is located close to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Carrboro High school is part of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district which contains ...
, and
Chapel Hill High School have all received national recognition for excellence, with ''
Newsweek'' in 2008 ranking East Chapel Hill High as the 88th-best high school in the nation, and the highest-ranked standard public high school in North Carolina. The small portion of Chapel Hill located in Durham County is part of
Durham Public Schools
The Durham Public Schools district is a public school district in Durham, North Carolina. Formed in 1992 with the merger of Durham's previous two school districts, it is 8th largest school system in North Carolina as of November 2020. There ar ...
.
There are several private K-12 schools in Chapel Hill, including
Emerson Waldorf School.
Founded in 1789, the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university and is the flagship of the
University of North Carolina system.
The state's main youth orchestra,
Piedmont Youth Orchestra, is based in Chapel Hill.
Culture
![Chapel hill firetruck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Chapel_hill_firetruck.jpg)
Though Chapel Hill is a principal city of a large metropolitan area, it retains a relatively small-town feel. Combined with its close neighbor, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area has roughly 85,000 residents. Many
large murals can be seen painted on the buildings. Most of these murals were painted by UNC
alumnus
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
Michael Brown.
Also, for more than 30 years, Chapel Hill has sponsored the annual
street fair
A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood.
The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey informa ...
, Festifall, in October.
The fair offer booths to artists, craftsmakers, nonprofits, and food vendors. Performance space is also available for musicians,
martial artists, and other groups. The fair is attended by tens of thousands each year.
![Varsity Theatre Franklin Street Chapel Hill NC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Varsity_Theatre_Franklin_Street_Chapel_Hill_NC.jpg)
A variety of corporations are headquartered in Chapel Hill. Health insurance provider
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina was one of the town's 10 largest employers. Technology companies USAT Corp and Realtime Ops have made Chapel Hill their headquarters location. Journalistic, Inc., the publisher of the nationally acclaimed magazines ''Fine Books & Collections'', ''QSR'', and ''FSR'' recently relocated from Durham to Chapel Hill. New companies are selecting the town as their base of operations such as the service company Alpha Install.
The
Morehead Planetarium was the first planetarium built on a U.S. college campus. When it opened in 1949, it was one of six
planetarium
A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
A dominant feature of most planetarium ...
s in the nation and has remained an important town landmark.
During the
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
,
Gemini, and
Apollo programs, astronauts were trained there.
One of the town's hallmark features is the giant sundial, located in the rose gardens in front of the planetarium on Franklin Street.
Influences of the university are seen throughout the town, even in the fire departments. Each fire station in Chapel Hill has a
fire engine (numbers 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35) that is Carolina blue.
These engines are also decorated with different UNC decals, including a firefighter
Rameses
Ramesses may refer to:
Ancient Egypt Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty
* Ramesses I, founder of the 19th Dynasty
* Ramesses II, also called "Ramesses the Great"
** Prince Ramesses (prince), second son of Ramesses II
** Prince Ramesses-Merya ...
.
Chapel Hill also has some
new urbanist village communities, such as
Meadowmont Village and
Southern Village
Southern Village is a New Urbanism neighborhood located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Established in 1994, Southern Village includes 550 single-family homes, 375 townhomes and condominiums, 250 apartments, and of retail, office, and civ ...
. Meadowmont and Southern Village both have shopping centers, green space where concerts and movies take place, community pools, and schools. Also, a traditional-style mall with a mix of national and local retailers is located at
University Place.
Food
Hailed as one of America's Foodiest Small Towns by ''
Bon Appétit
''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center i ...
'',
Chapel Hill is rapidly becoming a hot spot for pop American cuisine. Among the restaurants noted nationally are Al's Burger Shack, A Southern Season (now closed), Foster's Market (''
Martha Stewart Living''),
Mama Dip's (
Food Network's ''$40 A Day With
Rachael Ray''),
Crook's Corner, Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen (''
The Splendid Table''), caffè Driade (Food Network's ''$40 A Day With Rachael Ray''),
Lantern Restaurant (''
Food & Wine
''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...
'', ''
Southern Living'', etc.), and Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe.
Music
In the realm of popular music,
James Taylor,
George Hamilton IV,
Southern Culture on the Skids,
Superchunk
Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the ...
,
Polvo,
Archers of Loaf,
Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds Five is an American alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprises Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano), Robert Sledge (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums, backing vocals). The gro ...
,
The Kingsbury Manx
The Kingsbury Manx is an American indie rock group from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States.
History
The original members of The Kingsbury Manx met in middle school. They then attended different colleges and reunited during the summer mon ...
,
Spider Bags
Spider Bags is an alternative rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band was founded by Daniel McGee and Gregg Levy in 2006 after McGee's old band, the DC Snipers, broke up. Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles has described Spide ...
and more recently
Porter Robinson
Porter Weston Robinson (born July 15, 1992) is an American DJ, record producer, musician, and singer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Robinson began producing music in his childhood. He signed to Skrillex's record label Owsla, OWSLA at the age o ...
, are among the most notable musical artists and acts whose careers began in Chapel Hill. The town has also been a center for the modern revival of
old-time music with such bands as the Ayr Mountaineers, Hollow Rock String band,
Mandolin Orange
Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) is an Americana/ folk duo based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group was formed in 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and consists of songwriter Andrew Marlin (vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo) and Emily ...
, the Tug Creek Ramblers, Two Dollar Pistols, the Fuzzy Mountain String band, Big Fat Gap and the
Red Clay Ramblers.
Chapel Hill was also the founding home of now Durham-based
Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...
.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
has made a point to visit the town on four occasions. His most recent appearance was on September 15, 2003, at
Kenan Memorial Stadium with the
E Street Band.
U2 also performed at Kenan on the first American date of their 1983
War Tour
War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...
, where
Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
climbed up to the top of the stage, during pouring rain and lightning, holding up a white flag for peace. The 2011
John Craigie song, "
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia
*Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane
*Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area
Canada
* Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...
", is about the singer's first visit there. One song from ''
Dirty'', a
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
album, is named after the town.
Sports
The University of North Carolina has been very successful at
college basketball and
women's soccer, and a passion for these sports has been a distinctive feature of the town's culture, fueled by the
Tobacco Road rivalry
Tobacco Road is a term used in college sports, mainly basketball, for the four rival universities of North Carolina that play in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The term refers to the area's history as a major tobacco producer. The Tobacc ...
among North Carolina's four
ACC
ACC most often refers to:
* Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US
*American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...
teams: the
North Carolina Tar Heels
The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...
, the
Duke Blue Devils, the
NC State Wolfpack
The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college footb ...
, and the
Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The two largest sports venues in the town both house UNC teams. The
Dean Smith Center is home to the men's basketball team, while
Kenan Memorial Stadium is home to the football team. In addition, Chapel Hill is also home to
Carmichael Arena
William Donald Carmichael, Jr. Arena is a multi-purpose arena in on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. It is home to four Tar Heels athletic teams: women's basketball, vo ...
which formerly housed the UNC men's basketball team, and currently is home to the women's team, and to the new
Dorrance Field
Dorrance Field is the on-campus soccer and lacrosse stadium at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The stadium was constructed on the site of the old Fetzer Field. Construction on the new field began in May 2017 and ...
, home to men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams.
Many walking/biking trails are in Chapel Hill. Some of these include Battle Branch Trail and Bolin Creek Trail.
Media
*
WCHL:
local AM radio station (1360AM, 97.9FM) providing talk radio, news, and local sports coverage as the flagship station of the
Tar Heel Sports Network.
*
WUNC:
local public radio station (91.5FM) located on the UNC campus.
*
WXYC:
noncommercial student-run radio station (89.3FM) on the UNC campus. In 1994, it became the first radio station in the world to broadcast
over the internet.
* ''
The Daily Tar Heel''
is the nationally ranked, independent student newspaper that serves the university and the town. The free newspaper is printed thrice weekly during the academic year and weekly during summer sessions.
* ''
The Sun Magazine''
is an independent, ad-free magazine that for more than 40 years has published personal essays, interviews, short stories, poetry, and photographs.
* ''
Carrboro Citizen''
was a locally owned community newspaper covering local news, politics and town government of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The last issue was published in October 2012.
* The metro area has TV broadcasting stations that serve the
Raleigh-Durham Designated Market Area (DMA) as defined by
Nielsen Media Research.
Transit
Bus
Chapel Hill has intracity bus service via
Chapel Hill Transit
Chapel Hill Transit operates public bus and van transportation services within the contiguous municipalities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the southeast corner of Orange County in ...
.
Go Triangle provides connection to the rest of the Triangle (
Raleigh,
Durham, and
Hillsborough
Hillsborough may refer to:
Australia
*Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie
Canada
*Hillsborough, New Brunswick
*Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick
* Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County
*Hillsborough (electoral d ...
), of which the Hillsborough service is operated by Chapel Hill Transit, and supplemented mid-day by a county shuttle.
Light rail
The
Durham–Orange Light Rail line, which would have run between Chapel Hill and Durham, entered planning and engineering phases in August 2017. The project was discontinued in April 2019.
Notable people
![McCorkle-Place](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/McCorkle-Place.jpg)
*
Alice Adams, author
*
Emil Amos, musician
*
K. A. Applegate
Katherine Alice Applegate (born October 9, 1956), known professionally as K. A. Applegate or Katherine Applegate, is an American young adult and children's fiction writer, best known as the author of the ''Animorphs'', '' Remnants'', ''Everworld ...
, author
*
Owen Astrachan
Owen Astrachan is an American computer scientist and professor of the practice of computer science at Duke University, where he is also the department's director of undergraduate studies. He is known for his work in curriculum development and met ...
, Duke Professor of Computer Science
*
John David Roy Atchison (1954–2007), Assistant US Attorney and children's sports coach, committed suicide in prison after being charged with soliciting sex from a 5-year-old girl
*
George A. Baer (1903–1994),
bookbinder
*
Stephen Barrett, retired psychiatrist, webmaster of
Quackwatch
*
Lewis Black, stand-up comedian, author, actor
*
Ash Bowie
Ashley Hideyo "Ash" Bowie (born c.1968) is an American musician.
In 1990, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he formed the band Polvo (as guitarist and vocalist) along with Dave Brylawski, Steve Popson, and Eddie Watkins. Polvo was influential in t ...
, musician
*
Steve Breedlove, clergyman, bishop in the
Anglican Church in North America
*
Sean Bridgers, actor, screenwriter, director, producer
*
Fred Brooks, computer scientist
*
Christopher Browning
Christopher Robert Browning (born May 22, 1944) is an American historian who is the professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). A specialist on the Holocaust, Browning is known for his work documenting ...
, historian
*
Cam Cameron, football coach
*
Spencer Chamberlain, musician
*
Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts
Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts, also known as Doug Clark and his Hot Nuts, The Hot Nuts and, since the death of Doug Clark in 2002, Doug Clark's Hot Nuts, is an American rhythm and blues, rock and novelty band that has played party and club dates fo ...
, band.
*
Fred C. Cole
Fred Carrington Cole (April 12, 1912 – May 6, 1986) was an American librarian and historian. He was president of the Council on Library Resources and Washington and Lee University. In 1999, '' American Libraries'' named him one of the "100 M ...
, librarian and historian
*
Elizabeth Cotten
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten ( Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This po ...
, musician
*
Floyd Council
Floyd Council (September 2, 1911 – May 9, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, mandolin player, and singer. He was a practitioner of the Piedmont blues, which was popular in the southeastern United States in the 1920s and 1930s. He was ...
, blues singer, the "Floyd" after which Pink Floyd is named
*
Butch Davis, former UNC football coach
*
Hubert Davis
Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 19 ...
, UNC basketball coach, ESPN analyst, former NBA basketball player
*
Walter Royal Davis, North Carolina philanthropist and oil tycoon
*
Anoop Desai
Anoop Manoj Desai (born December 20, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and actor best known for his time as a contestant on the eighth season of ''American Idol''. Desai was the first ever 13th finalist on ''American Idol'' and was the se ...
, finalist on ''
American Idol'', singer
*
Sarah Dessen, author
*
David Drake
David A. Drake (born September 24, 1945) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now a writer in the military science fiction genre.
Biography
Drake graduated Phi ...
, science fiction and fantasy novelist and small-press publisher
*
Elizabeth Edwards, late wife of former U.S. Senator of North Carolina
John Edwards
*
John Edwards, former presidential candidate
*
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Beat Generation poet and co-founder of ''City Lights Book Sellers & Publishers''. Earned a B.A. in Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1941.
*
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer, who is the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., since May 2017. Folds was th ...
, musician
*
Paul Green, playwright
*
John Grisham, author
*
Meredith Hagner, actress, portrays
Liberty Ciccone
This is a list of some of the major or minor characters that appear (or have appeared) on the soap opera ''As the World Turns''.
A
; Karen Adams
: Doe Lang (1968–70)
:: Registered nurse.
; Reg Addington
: Mark Sullivan(2008–09)
; Bart Al ...
on ''
As the World Turns''
*
Bernardo Harris
Bernardo Harris (born October 15, 1971) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League. He attended Chapel Hill High School, graduating in 1990. He was recruited by Mack Brown to play at the University of North Carolina a ...
, former
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
linebacker
*
Dave Haywood, musician, member of the
country music group
Lady Antebellum
*
Bunn Hearn
Charles Bunn "Bunny" Hearn (May 21, 1891 – October 10, 1959) was a Major League Baseball pitcher, Major League scout, and minor league, semi-pro and college-level manager.
Biography
He was born on May 21, 1891, in Chapel Hill, North Carol ...
,
MLB pitcher
*
Jack Hogan, actor, noted for his role as Private William Kirby on ''
Combat!'' television series, 1962–1967
*
Laurel Holloman, artist and actress. Known for The L Word television series.
*
George Moses Horton
George Moses Horton (1798–after 1867), was an African-American poet from North Carolina who was enslaved till the Emancipation Proclamation reached North Carolina (1865). Horton is the first African-American author to be published after th ...
, a slave poet, called "the black bard of Chapel Hill"
*
Paul Jones, computer technologist
*
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...
, six-time NBA champion, basketball hall of famer, national champion at
UNC UNC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:
Education
* University of Northern California (disambiguation), which may refer to:
** University of Northern California (Santa Rosa), in Petaluma, California, United States
** University of Nor ...
*
Alexander Julian, fashion designer
*
Michelle Kasold, Olympic
field hockey player
*
Charles Kuralt, journalist
*
Kay Kyser, big band leader, entertainer
*
Howard Lee, first black mayor of a predominantly white city
*
William Carter Love
William Carter Love (1784December 3, 1824) was a Congressional Representative from North Carolina; born near Norfolk, Virginia, in 1784; moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina; was tutored at home; attended the University of North Carolina at Chape ...
,
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from North Carolina during the 1800s
*
Mandolin Orange
Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) is an Americana/ folk duo based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group was formed in 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and consists of songwriter Andrew Marlin (vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo) and Emily ...
, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, a folk/americana duo
*
Mac McCaughan, musician
*
Nick McCrory
Nicholas Montgomery McCrory (born August 9, 1991) is an American psychiatrist, former diver and was a member of the national team from 2007 to 2014.
He won his first international medal, a silver, at the World Junior Championship in 2006. At the ...
, Olympic bronze medalist in
diving
*
Richard McKenna
Richard Milton McKenna (May 9, 1913 – November 1, 1964) was an American sailor and novelist. He was best known for his historical novel, ''The Sand Pebbles'' which tells the story of an American sailor serving aboard a Yangtze Patrol, gunboat ...
, novelist, ''
The Sand Pebbles''
*
Mark Newhouse
Mark Newhouse (born March 11, 1985) is an American professional poker player who made back-to-back final tables at the World Series of Poker Main Event in the 2013 and 2014 finishing ninth both times, making him the only player to make the Nove ...
, professional
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
player
*
Marty Ravellette
Marty Ravellette (December 18, 1939 – November 12, 2007) was born in Goodland, Indiana without arms, attended Allentown, Pennsylvania#Health care, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania as an infant and then the famil ...
armless hero
*
David Rees David or Dai Rees may refer to:
Entertainment
* David Rees (author) (1936–1993), British children's author
* Dave Rees (born 1969), American drummer for SNFU and Wheat Chiefs
* David Rees (cartoonist) (born 1972), American cartoonist and televis ...
, political satirist, cartoonist of ''
Get Your War On''
*
Porter Robinson
Porter Weston Robinson (born July 15, 1992) is an American DJ, record producer, musician, and singer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Robinson began producing music in his childhood. He signed to Skrillex's record label Owsla, OWSLA at the age o ...
, electronic music producer
*
Brian Roberts, former MLB second baseman, two-time All-Star
*
Dexter Romweber, rockabilly roots-rocker
*
Aziz Sancar
Aziz Sancar (born 8September 1946) is a Turkish molecular biologist specializing in DNA repair, cell cycle checkpoints, and circadian clock. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for t ...
, winner of the 2015
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
*
Betty Smith, novelist, ''
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn''
*
Dean Smith, former basketball coach
*
Elizabeth Spencer, author of ''
The Light in the Piazza'', currently resides in Chapel Hill
*
Silda Wall Spitzer
Silda Alice Wall Spitzer (born December 30, 1957) is an American businesswoman and lawyer who was the First Lady of New York from January 2007 until March 2008, when her then husband, Eliot Spitzer, was governor. She has worked in the private, n ...
, wife of former New York governor
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008.
Spitzer was b ...
*
Chris Stamey, musician
*
Leo Sternbach
Leo Sternbach (May 7, 1908 – September 28, 2005) was a Polish American chemist who is credited with first synthesizing benzodiazepines, the main class of tranquilizers.
Background and family
Sternbach was born on May 7, 1908, in Opatija, K ...
, chemist and discoverer of
benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines (BZD, BDZ, BZs), sometimes called "benzos", are a class of depressant drugs whose core chemical structure is the fusion of a benzene ring and a diazepine ring. They are prescribed to treat conditions such as anxiety disorders, i ...
*
Matt Stevens, former NFL safety
*
James Taylor, musician
*
Blair Tindall
Blair Tindall (born February 2, 1960) is an American oboist, performer, producer, speaker, and journalist.
Early life and education
Tindall was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to historian George Brown Tindall and Blossom Tindall. She start ...
, author and musician
*
Richard Trice
Richard Trice (November 16, 1917 – April 6, 2000) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He released two singles. He lived most of his life in his native North Carolina and played in its regional blues style, often referred to ...
, blues guitarist, singer and songwriter
*
Willie Trice
William Augusta Trice (February 10, 1908 – December 11, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He released two singles and an album. He remained loyal to his native North Carolina and its regional blues style, often refe ...
, blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. Elder brother of above
*
Karl Edward Wagner, horror writer, editor, and small-press publisher
*
Daniel Wallace, writer, author of ''
Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions''
*
Manly Wade Wellman, novelist
*
Roy Williams, men's basketball coach
*
Thomas Wolfe, author. UNC alumnus. Chapel Hill appears as "Pulpit Hill" in his posthumous novel ''
You Can't Go Home Again
''You Can't Go Home Again'' is a novel by Thomas Wolfe published posthumously in 1940, extracted by his editor, Edward Aswell, from the contents of his vast unpublished manuscript ''The October Fair''. It is a sequel to ''The Web and the Rock'', ...
''.
*
Bayard Wootten (1875–1959), photographer and suffragette
Sister cities
*
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno () is the capital of Galápagos Province, Ecuador. It is located on the southwestern coast of San Cristóbal, the easternmost island in the archipelago, and is the capital of San Cristóbal Canton. It was founded by Gene ...
,
San Cristóbal (
Galápagos, Ecuador)
See also
*
List of municipalities in North Carolina
*
Chapel Hill Transit
Chapel Hill Transit operates public bus and van transportation services within the contiguous municipalities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the southeast corner of Orange County in ...
*
UNC Health Care
*
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
*
Carolina Brewery
*
Chapel Hill Zen Center
The Chapel Hill Zen Center (also called the Red Cedar Mountain Temple) is a Sōtō Zen Buddhist center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina founded in 1981. The center has been led by Josho Pat Phelan since 1991, who officially became abbess of the c ...
References
External links
*
Chapel Hill Memories (preserving the history of Chapel Hill)
{{authority control
Towns in North Carolina
Towns in Orange County, North Carolina
Towns in Durham County, North Carolina
Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina
Populated places established in 1793
1793 establishments in North Carolina
Research Triangle