What to See in Hillsborough - Top Sights and Attractions

Hillsborough Historic District is a national historic district located at Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 529 contributing buildings, 9 contributing sites, 13 contributing structures, and 2 contributing objects in the central business district and surrounding residential sections of Hillsborough. The district includes buildings dating to the late-18th and early-20th century and includes notable examples of Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate style architecture. Located in the district are the separately listed Burwell School, Eagle Lodge, Hazel-Nash House, Heartsease, Montrose, Nash Law Office, Nash-Hooper House, Old Orange County Courthouse, Poplar Hill, Ruffin-Roulhac House, Sans Souci, and St. Matthew's Episcopal Church and Churchyard. Other notable buildings include Seven Hearths, the Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church, First Baptist Church, Twin Chimneys, and the Berry Brick House.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1973.^[3]

Historical landmark in Orange County, North Carolina. Ayr Mount is a Federal style plantation house located east of Hillsborough, in Orange County, North Carolina, the United States of America.

In 1799, William Kirkland (born in Ayr, Scotland) bought 500 acres (2.0 km2) east of Hillsborough. Circa 1815, he had a home built for himself, his wife, Margaret, and their children, a brick dwelling with a two-story, three-bay main block flanked by one-story, two-bay wings. A full-width front porch, added about 1894, was removed sometime after 1971 and replaced with a facsimile of the original porch.

Mrs. Samuel (Emily) Kirkland, the last of four generations of Kirklands to occupy the house, lived there until 1985.

The property had gone through several owners prior to Kirkland's purchase of the property, the most well-known being William Few, Jr. whose father, William Few, Sr. had a house built on the property c. 1764.

Today, Ayr Mount is a publicly accessible historic site located on 265 acres (1.07 km2). It is owned and operated by Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. The home has been furnished with Federal period antiques and decorative art, including some original Kirkland furnishings. Ayr Mount features guided house tours and the one-mile (1.6 km) hiking trail the "Poet's Walk."^[5]

Bellevue Manufacturing Company is a historic textile mill complex located at Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina. The main mill was built about 1909, and is a two-story, side-gabled brick building, with a one-story boiler room and engine room wing. It is representative of slow-burn heavy timber construction. A one-story brick weaving room with monitor roof was built parallel to the main mill in 1920. In 1923, the wing was raised to two stories and an addition built to connect to the weaving room forming a "U"-shaped complex. The center of the "U" was filled in during the 1960s. Also in 1923, a separate two-story cloth building was constructed.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

On May 20, 2016, the 34,000 square foot (3,200 m2) weaving room was completely destroyed by a multi-alarm fire, which required mutual aid from seven local fire departments to extinguish.^[7]

Building in Orange County, North Carolina. Eagle Lodge is a historic Masonic lodge building located at Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina. It was built in 1823, and two-story, three bay, square brick building in the Greek Revival style. It has a low hipped roof with heavy box cornice and a one-story pedimented porch with Ionic order columns.

The Eagle Lodge was first chartered in 1791 and disbanded in 1799. It was re-started in 1819, and decided in 1820 to build a building. This was designed probably by North Carolina's state architect William Nichols.

It came to serve as the town's lecture hall, opera house, Civil War hospital, and other functions. It was also known as the King Street Opera House.

It was deemed architecturally significant "as an interesting example of the adaptive usage of early Greek Revival motifs in a building constructed specifically as a Masonic lodge."

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. It is located in the Hillsborough Historic District.^[8]