Lee County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 so ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 63,285. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Sanford. Lee County comprises the Sanford, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is a part of the

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

- Durham- Cary, NC Combined Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023.

History

The nature of Native American habitation of the land eventually comprising Lee County is not well known. People of European and African descent settled in the area in the 1740s and 1750s. In the 1850s, the state's first commercial coal mine opened in the community of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. During the American Civil War, the area supplied coal and iron to the forces of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

. In 1907, residents of the city of Sanford of Moore County beginning pushing for the creation of a new county to ease the burden of their travel to Moore's seat of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, 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 classic ...

. The North Carolina General Assembly passed a law creating Lee County from portions of Moore and Chatham counties effective April 1, 1908 pending ratification in a plebiscite by the people living in the proposed county. The referendum was held on July 1, with voters approving the new county 875 to 40. County officials were installed on February 17, 1908. The county courthouse was erected on a site between Sanford and Jonesboro and occupied by county officers in early March 1909. Lee County's population and economy steadily grew after its creation, fueled by the success of tobacco, furniture, quarrying, brickmaking, and textile industries. In 1947, the cities of Sanford and Jonesboro merged.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.60%) is water.

State and local protected areas

* Lee Game Land (part) * White Pines Nature Preserve (part)

Major water bodies

* Big Governors Creek *

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a blackwater river in east-central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River in the town of ...

* Cypress Creek * Deep River * Juniper Creek * Lake Trace * Lake Villanow * Lick Creek * Little Buffalo Creek * Little Governors Creek * Little Pocket Creek * Pocket Creek * Roberts Creek

Adjacent counties

* Chatham County – north * Harnett County – southeast * Moore County – southwest

Major highways

* * (runs from Key West, FL to Fort Kent, ME) * (runs from Walterboro, SC to Painted Post, NY) * (runs from Fort Fisher, NC to Michigan City, IN) * * (runs from Myrtle Beach, SC to Buena Vista, VA) * * * *

Major infrastructure

* Raleigh Executive Jetport

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 63,285 people, 21,894 households, and 15,223 families residing in the county.

2000 census

At the 2000 census, there were 49,040 people, 18,466 households, and 13,369 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

was . There were 19,909 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 70.03%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 20.46%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.42% Native American, 0.67% Asian, 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 7.33% from other races, and 1.06% from two or more races. 11.65% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. By 2005 14.2% of the County population was Latino. 20.2% of the population was African-American. 64.2% of the population was non-Hispanic whites. In 2000 there were 18,466 households, out of which 33.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.30% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.60% were non-families. 23.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.05. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.70% under the age of 18, 9.00% from 18 to 24, 29.70% from 25 to 44, 22.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $38,900, and the median income for a family was $45,373. Males had a median income of $32,780 versus $23,660 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $19,147. About 9.80% of families and 12.80% 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 ...

, including 16.50% of those under age 18 and 12.20% of those age 65 or over.

Government and politics

Lee is a typical "Solid South" county in terms of voting patterns. From its first election in 1908 it voted Democratic by large margins until 1968, except in the 1928 election when anti-

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

Catholic

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

held the county by single digits. In 1968, Lee's Democratic streak was broken when its electorate chose the American Independent candidate

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

. After 1972, Lee has voted Republican in every election except for

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

's two elections in 1976 and 1980. As of 2022, 60.4 percent of the population is registered to vote. Lee County is a member of the regional Triangle J Council of Governments. The county is governed by a seven-member board of County Commissioners, elected at large to serve four-year terms. Terms are staggered so that, every two years, three or four Commissioners are up for election. The Commissioners enact policies such as establishment of the property tax rate, regulation of land use and zoning outside municipal jurisdictions, and adoption of the annual budget. Commissioners usually meet on the first and third Mondays of each month. The commissioners appoint a county manager to oversee regular administrative activity of the county government. The commissioners also appoint a county attorney to advise the board on legal matters. Lee County lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 12th Prosecutorial District, the 12th

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

District, and the 12th

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

District.

Communities

Map of Lee County North Carolina With Municipal and Township Labels

City

* Sanford (county seat and largest community)

Town

* Broadway

Unincorporated communities

* Blacknel * Colon * Cumnock * Lemon Springs * Murchisontown * Osgood * Pocket * Swann Station * Tramway * White Hill

Townships

The county is divided into seven townships, which are both numbered and named: * 1 (Greenwood) * 2 (Jonesboro) * 3 (Cape Fear) * 4 (Deep River) * 5 (East Sanford) * 6 (West Sanford) * 7 (Pocket)

Education

There is one school district, Lee County Schools.

Trivia

* The area has historically been one of the leading

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

manufacturing areas in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. *

Cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

are leading crops in the county. * The county is divided between the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

in the northern part of the county and the Sandhills in the south. * Lee County sits in the middle of the Triassic Basin and has the state's most concentrated reserves of

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

. * Lee County is also home to the longest covered bridge in North Carolina found along NC 42 near Ole Gilliam Mill Park.The Longest Covered Bridge In North Carolina, At Ole Gilliam Mill Park, Is 140 Feet Long https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/state-pride/north-carolina/ole-gilliam-mill-park-covered-bridge-sanford-nc/

References

Works cited

External links

* *
NCGenWeb Lee County
genealogy resources for the county {{Authority control Lee County

Lee County, North Carolina Lee County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 63,285. The county seat is Sanford, North Carolina, Sanford. Lee County comprises ...