Moore County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 99,727. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

and its largest municipality is the Village of Pinehurst. It is a border county between the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and the

Atlantic Coastal Plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. In the early years, the economy was dependent on agriculture and lumber. The lumber business expanded after railroads reached the area, improving access to markets. It lies at the northern edge of the area known as the Sandhills region, and developed resorts in the late 19th century, aided by railroads. Since the early 21st century, Moore County comprises the

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

- Pinehurst-

Southern Pines Southern Pines is a town in Moore County, North Carolina, Moore County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 12,334 as of the 2010 United States Census. History Southern Pines was founded as a winter health resort for Northeastern U ...

, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area. Moore County is a part of the Fayetteville Combined Statistical Area, which as of 2019 had an estimated population of 854,826, making it the 65th largest CSA in the United States.

History

Indigenous peoples occupied this area, with varying cultures over thousands of years. In the historic period that included European encounter, tribes included Algonquian-speaking tribes,

Siouan Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who call the enti ...

-speaking tribes and the

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian la ...

-speaking

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

in the western mountains. This area was settled by

Gaels The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic langu ...

from the Scottish

Highlands and Islands The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 ...

and their descendants. The

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

war poet A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about their experiences, or a non-combatant who writes poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who served during the First World War, the term can be applied to a p ...

Iain mac Mhurchaidh Iain mac Mhurchaidh, alias John MacRae (died ca. 1780), was a Scotland-born Bard from Kintail, a member of Clan Macrae, and an early immigrant to the Colony of North Carolina. MacRae has been termed one of the "earliest Scottish Gaelic poets in N ...

, a member of

Clan Macrae The Clan Macrae is a Highland Scottish clan. The clan has no chief; it is therefore considered an armigerous clan. Surname The surname Macrae (and its variations) is an anglicisation of the patronymic from the Gaelic personal name ''MacRaith' ...

from

Kintail Kintail ( gd, Cinn Tàile) is an area of mountains in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, located in the Highland Council area. It consists of the mountains to the north of Glen Shiel and the A87 road between the heads of Loch Duich and Loch ...

and a major figure in

Scottish Gaelic literature Scottish Gaelic literature refers to literature composed in the Scottish Gaelic language and in the Gàidhealtachd communities where it is and has been spoken. Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, along with Iri ...

, purchased 150 acres in Moore County in 1775. The county was formed in 1785, shortly after the American Revolutionary War, from part of

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberla ...

. It was named after

Alfred Moore Alfred Moore (May 21, 1755 – October 15, 1810) was an American judge, lawyer, planter and military officer who became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Moore Square, a park located in the Moore Square Hist ...

, an officer in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and associate justice of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. In 1907 parts of Moore 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 were combined to form Lee County. Moore County has many

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

resorts in the

/ Pinehurst area, and hosted the 1996 and 2001 Women's U.S. Opens, as well as the 1999 and 2005 Men's U.S. Opens. The Women's Open returned to Southern Pines in 2007. In 2014, they consecutively hosted both the Women's and Men's Opens in the same year, a first in U.S. Open history.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.1%) is water.

State and local protected areas/sites

* House in the Horseshoe *

Sandhills Game Land Sandhills or Sand Hills may refer to: * Sandhill Canada * Sand Hills, Ontario, near Houghton Centre, Ontario, on Lake Erie United Kingdom * Sandhills, Oxfordshire * Sandhills, Surrey * Sandhills area of Southern Leighton Buzzard, UK * Sandhi ...

(part) *

Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve is a List of North Carolina state parks, North Carolina state park in Moore County, North Carolina, Moore County, North Carolina in the United States. Located near Southern Pines, North Carolina, it covers ...

Major water bodies

Aberdeen Creek (Drowning Creek tributary) Aberdeen Creek is a long 3rd order tributary to Drowning Creek (Lumber River), in Moore County, North Carolina. History Most of the area around Aberdeen Creek was settled by Scots-Irish Immigrants in the 1700s. Historically the major industry ...

* Auman Lake *

Big Governors Creek Big Governors Creek is a long 3rd order tributary to the Deep River in Lee and Moore Counties, North Carolina. This creek forms the Lee-Moore county line, in part and is the only stream of this name in the United States. Variant names Accordi ...

* Crane Creek (Little River tributary) * Deep Creek * Deep River *

Drowning Creek The Lumber River, sometimes referred to as the Lumbee River, is a river in south-central North Carolina in the flat Coastal Plain. European settlers first called the river Drowning Creek, which is the name of its headwater. The waterway known as ...

* Dunhams Creek * Horse Creek * Jackson Creek * Killets Creek * Lake Surf * Little Governors Creek *

Little River (Cape Fear River tributary) Little River is a long 5th order tributary to the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. This stream delineates the county boundaries of Moore-Hoke Counties and Harnett-Cumberland Counties for some of its distance. Variant names According to the G ...

McLendons Creek McLendons Creek is a long 4th order tributary to the Deep River in Moore County, North Carolina. This creek is the only stream of this name in the United States. Variant names According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also ...

* Pagers Lake *

Pinehurst Lake Pinehurst Lake is a lake in Northeastern Alberta. Located northeast of Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton ...

* Richland Creek * Thagards Lake * Watson Lake * Wolf Creek

Adjacent counties

* Chatham County - north * Lee County - northeast * Harnett County - east *

- southeast *

Hoke County Hoke County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 52,082. Its county seat is Raeford. Hoke County is part of the Fayetteville metropolitan statistical area. The county is home to part of t ...

- southeast * Scotland County - south *

Richmond County Richmond County may refer to places: Australia *Richmond County, New South Wales, a cadastral division Canada *Richmond County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Richmondshire, the original Richmond County in Yorkshire, England United States ...

- southwest * Montgomery County - west *

Randolph County Randolph County is the name of eight counties in the United States: *Randolph County, Alabama *Randolph County, Arkansas *Randolph County, Georgia *Randolph County, Illinois *Randolph County, Indiana *Randolph County, Missouri *Randolph County, Nort ...

- north

Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Major infrastructure

* Gilliam - McConnell Airfield, small local airfield located in the county * Moore County Airport * Southern Pines Station

Demographics

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 99,727 people, 41,530 households, and 27,191 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 107 people per square mile (41/km²). There were 48,237 housing units at an average density of 50 per square mile (19/km²).

2000 census

There were 30,713 households, out of which 26.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.10% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 10.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.50% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.81. In the county, the population was spread out, with 21.2% under the age of 18, 6.60% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 23.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 93.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $48,348, and the median income for a family was $48,492. Males had a median income of $31,260 versus $23,526 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $23,377. About 8.00% of families and 11.40% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 16.60% of those under age 18 and 10.10% of those age 65 or over. By 2005 78.0% of the county population was non-Hispanic whites. 5.1% of the population was Latino. 14.8% of the population was African-American.

Government and politics

Since the late 1960s and the civil rights movement and other cultural changes, Moore has become a supporter of Republican presidential candidates. It was one of the first counties east of the Blue Ridge to turn Republican, having supported the GOP nominee in all but one election from 1952 onward. The last Democrat to carry the county was

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

in 1964, and

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

in 1980 was the last to reach forty percent of the vote. The Republican Party also dominates many local and state elections in majority-white precincts and districts. Moore County is a member of the regional Triangle J Council of Governments. In the

North Carolina House of Representatives The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...

, Moore County lies chiefly in the 52nd District, represented by Republican Deputy Majority Whip James L. Boles Jr. The northwestern part of the county lies within the 78th District, which also covers the southeastern part of

and is represented by Republican Allen McNeill. In the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

, Moore County lies entirely within the 29th Senate District represented by Majority Whip Jerry W. Tillman. The North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention previously operated the Samarkand Youth Development Center (YDC), a correctional facility for delinquent girls, in Eagle Springs. The complex first opened in 1918 and did not have a fence.

Attractions and places of interest

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

, a large military installation centered in neighboring Cumberland County, also has portions in Moore County. * Occoneechee Scout Reservation, site of Camp Durant (with facilities) and Camp Reeves (primitive) campgrounds. Located 9 miles west of Carthage. *

Pinehurst Race Track Pinehurst Race Track is a historic horse racing track and national historic district located at Pinehurst in Moore County, North Carolina, USA. The district encompasses 10 contributing buildings, 8 contributing sites, and 1 contributing structu ...

, a horse-racing track *

Pinehurst Resort Pinehurst Resort is a golf resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina in the United States. It has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments including three U.S. Open Championships, one U.S. Women's Open, three U.S. Amateur Championships, one ...

, historic golf resort * Moore County Courthouse, historic Renaissance Revival courthouse building located in Carthage * Pottery Road, extending from Randolph County, known for a large number of potteries. *

, located near Southern Pines.

Communities

City

* Robbins

Towns

* Cameron *

(county seat) * Pinebluff *

* Taylortown * Vass

Villages

Foxfire Foxfire, also called fairy fire and chimpanzee fire, is the bioluminescence created by some species of fungi present in decaying wood. The bluish-green glow is attributed to a luciferase, an oxidative enzyme, which emits light as it reacts with ...

* Pinehurst (largest village) * Whispering Pines

Census-designated places

* Seven Lakes

Unincorporated communities

* Eagle Springs * Glendon * Jackson Springs * Manly * West End

Townships

The county is divided into ten

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

, which are both numbered and named: * 1 (Carthage) * 2 (Bensalem) * 3 (Sheffields) * 4 (Ritter) * 5 (Deep River) * 6 (Greenwood) * 7 (McNeill) * 8 (Sandhill) * 9 (Mineral Springs) * 10 (Little River)

Notable people

* Charles Brady (1951- 2006), was raised here. He became a physician, career Navy officer, and NASA astronaut. *

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...

, politician, US Senator and former presidential candidate was raised here *

Jeff Hardy Jeffrey Nero Hardy (born August 31, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and musician. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Hardy is widely considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time and is regarded ...

and

Matt Hardy Matthew Moore Hardy (born September 23, 1974) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his time with WWE. With his real life brother Jeff, Hardy gained notoriety in WWF's tag team d ...

, brothers, were raised here; they are professional wrestlers currently working in

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, w ...

The Hardy Boyz The Hardys, also known as The Hardy Boyz, are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of real-life brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy, who are currently appearing in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The team is currently inactive due to Jeff ...

. *

Shannon Moore Shannon Moore (born July 27, 1979) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1999 and 2001 and with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for several years in the 2000s. H ...

, was raised here; he is a wrestler currently working in the

Independent Circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

. * Shanann Watts, murdered with her two daughters by her husband Chris in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

in 2018

References

External links

Moore County government official website

Moore County Chamber of Commerce

NCGenWeb Moore County
- free genealogy resources for the county
Moore County NC History

Moore County boy scouts

Moore County Historical Association

Marlin Environmental
{{authority control 1784 establishments in North Carolina Populated places established in 1784