Southern Pines is a town in Moore County,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 15,545 as of the 2020 census, up from 12,334 in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

History

Founded as a winter health resort for Northerners,Southern Pines North Carolina 2040 Comprehensive Plan Adopted September 12, 2023, https://www.southernpines.net/DocumentCenter/View/10470/2040-Comprehensive-Plan-printable-version, last accessed November 12, 2023. land for the establishment of a town was purchased in 1884 and the town was incorporated on March 7, 1887.An Act to Incorporate the Town of Southern Pines, in Moore county, ratified March 7, 1887, https://www.southernpines.net/DocumentCenter/View/9784/Southern-Pines-Charter-1887-Session-Law-Chapter-159?bidId=, last accessed November 12, 2023. As of 1898, it was a

sundown town Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, were all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States. They were towns that practiced a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combinati ...

where African Americans were not allowed to reside or conduct business. The James Boyd House, Shaw House, Southern Pines Historic District, Firleigh Farms, and Moore County Hunt Lands and Mile-Away Farms are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The Southern Pines Golf Club was founded in 1906.

Geography

Southern Pines is in southern Moore County in the Sandhills Region of North Carolina. It is bordered to the south by

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, to the west by Pinehurst, and to the north by

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 ...

and Whispering Pines. U.S. Route 1 (Sandhills Boulevard) is the primary road through Southern Pines, passing northwest of the downtown area. US-1 leads northeast to Sanford and southwest through Aberdeen to Rockingham. North Carolina Highway 2 has its eastern terminus in Southern Pines and leads west to the center of Pinehurst. NC 22 has its southern terminus in Southern Pines and leads north to Carthage, the Moore

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 ...

. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town of Southern Pines has a total area of , of which , or 1.02%, are water. The center of Southern Pines sits on high ground which drains west toward Aberdeen Creek, a south-flowing tributary of Drowning Creek (the Lumber River); and east and north toward tributaries of the Little River, part of the

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 ...

watershed.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 15,545 people, 6,321 households, and 3,505 families residing in the town.

2010 census

As of the 2010

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, there were 12,334 people, 5,866 households, and 3,304 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 6,859 housing units at an average density of 371 houses/condos per square mile (143.24/km). The racial makeup of the town was 71.7%

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 ...

, 24%

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 ...

, 0.6% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.1%

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 ...

, 1.3% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races.

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 were 1.4% of the population. Of the 5,866 households, 21% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% 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% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.7 had a male householder with no female present, and 38.9% were non-families. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.75. In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.9% aged 19 and younger, 4.7% from 20 to 24, 20.8% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 27.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47. For every 100 females, there were 82 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $41,297 in 2011, and the median income for a family was $60,683. Males had a median income of $29,855 versus $23,920 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 town was $30,886. Of families, 9.26% were below the poverty level, along with 12.4% of the population

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 23.0% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

* The O'Neal School * Pinecrest High School * St. John Paul II Catholic School * Episcopal Day School * Sandhills Classical Christian School * Academy of Classical Design - Fine Art Atelier * Calvary Christian School * Moore Montessori Community School * Sandhills Community College * North Moore High School * Union Pines High School

Media

*'' The Pilot'' (fka ''The Southern Pines Pilot'') *
PineStraw Magazine
' *
Moore County News
' * WYBE Sandhills Lifetime TV 44 * WEEB Talk Radio 990 AM and 97.3 FM * WIOZ Star 102.5 FM * WMGU Magic 106.9 FM * WMAG 99.5 Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High-Point * WQSM 98.1 Q98 Fayetteville * WZFX 99.1 Foxy 99 * WKML 95.7 KML Today's Country * WUKS 107.7 The Bounce FM * WFLB 96.5 KML BOB FM The metro area has TV broadcasting stations that serve the Raleigh-Durham Designated Market Area (DMA) as defined by

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

Infrastructure

* Camp Mackall, U.S. Army training facility * Moore County Airport * Southern Pines station, served by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Notable people

* James Baldwin, former All-Star pitcher for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

* P. T. Barnum, co-founder of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus; built a home for his family in Southern Pines at 285 N. Bethesda Road * Peggy Kirk Bell, golf instructor and founding member of the

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

* Jeff Capel II,

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

assistant coach and

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

head coach * Bobby Collins, college basketball coach * Sarah Dessen, novelist * Denny Emerson, equestrian * Charlie Engle,

ultramarathon An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...

runner and author * Augustus M. Gurney, U.S. Army brigadier general; retired in Southern Pines * James Holshouser Jr., former Republican governor of North Carolina * Patricia Hollingsworth Holshouser, former First Lady of North Carolina *

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; né Braun; born December 30, 1935), nicknamed "the Left Arm of God", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 195 ...

, Hall of Fame pitcher for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

; owned a home in Southern Pines * Julien J. LeBourgeois,

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

* Carwood Lipton, member 101st Airborne Division in World War II, portrayed in ''Band of Brothers''; spent his retirement years in Southern Pines * James Russell McGregor (James 3X Shabazz), a leader of the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

and an associate of

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

* Armelia McQueen, actress * D. Jeffrey Mims, artist and founder of Academy of Classical Design *

Shannon Moore Shannon Moore (born July 27, 1979) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1999 and 2001 and with WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for ...

, professional wrestler * Richard T. Morgan, North Carolina state legislator, businessman, and farmer * Winant Sidle, U.S. Army major general * John Frank Stevens, railroad builder, discoverer of Stevens Pass, and lead engineer for the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

* Michael Walsh, horse trainer, National Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee, founder of the Stoneybrook Steeplechase * Toni Lynn Washington, blues singer

Sister city

Southern Pines has one

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

, as designated by

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the goal of facilitating partnerships between communities within the United States and other countries by establishing sister cities. Sister cities are agreements of ...

:Sahadi, Bill. (June 8, 2017)
Sister Cities International
''Fore Properties''. Retrieved July 21, 2020. * Newry/Mourne, County Down,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

References

Works cited

External links

*
Moore County Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Towns in North Carolina Towns in Moore County, North Carolina Sandhills (Carolina) Sundown towns in North Carolina