Caswell County, North Carolina

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Caswell County
U.S. county
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville
Official seal of Caswell County
Seal
Map of North Carolina highlighting Caswell County
Location within the U.S. state of North Carolina
Map of the United States highlighting North Carolina
North Carolina's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 36°24′00″N 79°19′48″W / 36.399997°N 79.33°W / 36.399997; -79.33
Country United States
State North Carolina
Founded1777
Named forRichard Caswell
SeatYanceyville
Largest townYanceyville
Area
 • Total428 sq mi (1,110 km2)
 • Land425 sq mi (1,100 km2)
 • Water3.3 sq mi (9 km2)  0.8%%
Population
 • Estimate 
(2018)
22,698
 • Density56/sq mi (22/km2)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district6th
Websitewww.caswellcountync.gov

Caswell County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,719.[1] Its county seat is Yanceyville.[2]

History[]

Early history[]

The area was first inhabited by Native Americans possibly as long as 12,000 years ago.[3] The tribes noted by early European explorers include the Occaneechi, Eno, Cheraw, Shakori, and Sissipahaw.[4] Abundant evidence of indigenous activity has been found in many parts of Caswell County.[5]

In 1665, Charles I of England gave all of what is now North Carolina and South Carolina (named for him) to eight of his noblemen. Caswell County was originally part of the land grant belonging to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon.[6]

Colonial records show land grants in northern Orange County (later Caswell County) as early as 1748. There were Scotch-Irish, German, and English settlements along the Dan River and Hogans and Country Line creeks by 1751. The first recorded settlement occurred between 1750 and 1755 when eight to ten families migrated from Orange County and Culpeper, Virginia.[7] The primary reason for resettlement was economic. They were searching for fertile land, which the low land of the Dan River and several creeks provided.[6]

After the initial settlements, the area experienced rapid population growth. The settlers who lived in the county before 1800 were mostly of English, Scotch-Irish, French, and German descent.[6] Scotch-Irish and German families traversed the Great Wagon Road, which was the main route for settlement in the region, and had come by way of Virginia and Pennsylvania. English and Huguenot migrants came from settled areas of eastern North Carolina, following the Great Trading Path. English colonists also came from Virginia utilizing the selfsame network of roads and trails.[8] Enslaved Black people were brought to the area by slaveholders and slave-trading agents involved in speculation.[9][10]

The settlers first consisted mainly of yeoman farmers and planters. Middle-class families arrived afterward.[6][11] English and Scotch-Irish culture predominated socially, spiritually, educationally, and economically.[12]

Yeoman farmers comprised over half the population. Few if any were slaveholders before the 1850s. The yeomanry owned small family farms and lived in log homes. They farmed for subsistence, with surpluses going toward debt settlement or bartering for goods. Relying on the skilled and unskilled labor of family members, neighbors, and others, they linked farms to grist mills and sawmills.[8]

Middle-class families were chiefly involved in business entrepreneurship, craftsmanship, small-scale commercial farming, export, and trade.[9] They actively promoted settlement of the towns to further local economic development and their own upward social mobility. As the area became more populated and prosperous, a significant number of middle-class residents transitioned to the upper-middle class.[6]

The planter class constituted the upper class and were the smallest segment of the population. Most came from successful families and were well versed in the literature of the Enlightenment. Due to their social position, they deeply impacted the county economically, culturally, and politically.[13] The area's other planters, in contrast, were less prominent and wealthy than the gentry in their midst. They were small planters with less land and lived more ordinary lives.[14] Several had indentured servants or bound apprentices of mixed race.[15] All planters practiced slavery: the less affluent ones did so on small to medium-sized farms and were, by all appearances, the upper-middle class.

No matter their class distinction, planters were the most socioeconomically advantaged inhabitants. They traded commodities with other settlers and were involved in land speculation and the domestic slave trade. They founded mills, sold livestock, and grew profitable crops such as wheat, corn, and oats on farms or plantations.[16] Tobacco was harvested as a secondary crop depending on changing market demand, pricing, soil exhaustion, and other factors.[17]

During the colonial period from approximately 1761 until 1772, it was common for local planters to receive credit loans from British-owned mercantile companies in the province for the purpose of funding the expansion of agricultural production. The monies went toward purchases of additional land and enslaved labor. Such companies also supplied enslaved workers and consumer items to area planters and managed tobacco exports sent to Virginia warehouses.[18] Their merchants offered good tobacco prices initially but eventually reduced them greatly, causing many planters to fall into substantial debt, which could not be repaid without selling land or enslaved people. Due to the Revolutionary War, most of these debts were never repaid. After the war, the demand for tobacco rose when new markets were found without such middlemen.[19][20]

As the wealth of the county's planters increased, so did the number of enslaved workers who were field hands, domestic servants, and artisans.[21] Regardless of labor variation, masters had no compunction breaking up marriages and separating families at will. The slave codes emboldened and normalized their conduct.[22] Field hands were almost always provided the bare minimum of food and clothing. To supplement their owner-supplied diet, they trapped wild animals, fished, and raised vegetable gardens.[23]

As their numbers grew in the 18th century, enslaved African Americans powered more and more of the area's agricultural and economic development.[24][25] From dawn until dusk, they labored in the fields and slept in meager dirt-floor dwellings.[27] When not forced to produce crops and tend livestock, they were required to perform a host of other grueling tasks that maximized labor productivity.[23] During their limited leisure hours, they focused on their personal lives, interests, and activities, including efforts to preserve their culture.[28] Many also planned and carried out acts of defiance and resistance.[29]

Not long after they arrived, the settlers had been progressive in building homes, businesses, and churches. Many planters promoted a culture of education that later saw the creation of private academies in the early 1800s. The older families were more politically and fiscally conservative than the newcomers. Most planters voted against funds for postwar internal improvements and were not supportive of expenditures that raised the county debt.[6] Perhaps they were debt-averse due to their previous financial difficulties, brought on by the actions of predatory tobacco merchants.

Before the Revolutionary War, the biggest threats to citizen safety and social stability were the French and Indian War and the Regulator Movement in present Orange County.[30][31] While the movement increased class tensions within the community, the settlers came together in support of the Revolution.[6]

Prior to the war, the Church of England was the most common religious affiliation in the area. Episcopal and later Methodist churches were started. Pennsylvania missionary Hugh McAden founded Red House Presbyterian Church possibly as early as 1755. Country Line Primitive Baptist Church was established in 1772.[6][32][33]

Caswell County was formed from a northern portion of Orange County in 1777. It was created so that governance could be more localized and efficient.[34] The county was named for Richard Caswell who was the first governor of North Carolina after the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Caswell was also a delegate at the First and Second Continental Congresses and a senior officer of militia in the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War. He led the Provincial Congress' force at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776.[35]

During the prelude to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781, Lord Cornwallis pursued General Nathanael Greene through Caswell County. Greene's retreat, called the "Race to the Dan", was a calculated ploy. His objective was to extend Cornwallis far beyond his supply base in Camden, South Carolina so that his fighting power would be significantly diminished. Cornwallis and his troops marched through Camp Springs and Leasburg, which was the first county seat. They continued on to the Red House Church area of Semora.[6] It is unknown how many locally enslaved people fled to the British for safe haven before the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.[36]

By the war's end in 1783, Caswell County had made significant contributions in personnel and materiel. Little fighting took place locally. Area natives famous for their Revolutionary War contributions include Lieutenant Colonel Henry ("Hal") Dixon, Captain John Herndon Graves, Dr. Lancelot Johnston, and Starling Gunn.[34]

After the war, a small number of free Black families moved to the area. Most of the men had served in the Continental Army and navy.[37] Usually skilled in a trade, they farmed in a manner similar to yeoman farmers but did not have equal rights.

In 1786, a state census ranked Caswell County as the second-largest county with a population of 9,839. Halifax County had only 489 more inhabitants.[34]

Six years later in 1792, the eastern half of the county became Person County. After the division, the seat of Caswell County's government was moved to a more central location. The community hosting the new county seat was first called Caswell Court House. In 1833, the name was changed to Yanceyville.[4]

Industrialization and growth[]

In the early 1800s, Caswell County's wealthy landowners were moving away from diversified farming and accelerating toward tobacco as a single cash crop. This agricultural conversion considerably impacted the growth of the enslaved population. It rose 54 percent from 1800 to 1810.[6]

Around 1830, the "Boom Era" began, which lasted until the Civil War. During this time, the area saw the creation of new flour and lumber mills and experienced the furniture output of Thomas Day, a free Black businessman in Milton. A cotton factory, foundry, and silk company were also in operation. In Yanceyville, roads were improved and given names by 1841. The town became wealthy enough in 1852 to charter an independent bank, the Bank of Yanceyville, whose market capitalization ranked among the highest in the state.[38]

In 1839, on Abisha Slade's farm in Purley, an enslaved man named Stephen discovered the bright-leaf tobacco flue-curing process.[39][34] Slade perfected the curing method in 1856. The following year his farm harvested 20,000 pounds of bright leaf tobacco on 100 acres of land and the crop was sold in Lynchburg, Virginia at an exorbitant price. Slade taught the flue-curing technique to many farmers in the area and elsewhere. Bright leaf tobacco became popular with smokers and North Carolina growers gained a dominant position in the tobacco industry as a result.[40]

The tobacco economy, and the industries supported by it, enriched many locals. The lifestyle of many yeoman farmers changed into that of planters.[6] The newly wealthy built impressive homes and sent their children to private academies.[34] However, the majority of the population did not benefit. In 1850, enslaved African Americans comprised 52 percent of the county's inhabitants.[41]

By 1856, tobacco overshadowed all other forms of enterprise in Caswell County. Tobacco warehouses, manufacturing, and processing plants dotted the skyline. The largest centers were located in Yanceyville and Milton.[6]

The growth of the industry and increase in raw tobacco production created an expanding need for labor. The number of enslaved people grew to 9,355 in 1860 from a total of 4,299 in 1810 and 2,788 in 1800.[6]

There were 26 free Black inhabitants residing in Caswell County in 1800, 90 in 1810, and 282 in 1860. The white population declined from a peak of 8,399 in 1850 to 6,578 in 1860. This was due to the western migration of small farmers who were unable to compete with the larger tobacco planters.[6]

In 1858, at the tail end of the opulent Boom Era, construction began on Caswell County Courthouse. It was completed during the onset of the Civil War in 1861.

After the war, the area continued its economic dependence on tobacco and was averse to agricultural diversification. The Second Industrial Revolution in varying degrees passed it by. Other than a few tobacco mills, there was an absence of industry and no railroad.[34] The population significantly diminished until 1910 when an upward trend began. By then Yanceyville had phone service.[42]

The county's population kept growing through the 1920s. To provide better facilities, the Caswell County Board of Education initiated school improvement projects.[43] During this time in 1926, The Caswell Messenger began publication.

In 1937, the Yanceyville Rotary Club was founded and members successfully pioneered economic and community development projects.[12] Roosevelt's New Deal programs during the Depression years, the economic impact of World War II, and the later postwar boom substantially helped revitalize the area.[34]

By 1950, Caswell County reached a peak of 20,870 inhabitants, which was not surpassed until the 2000 census.[44] The economic upswing of the 1950s saw new businesses entering the area. This included the opening of a meatpacking operation in 1956 in the county's southwest corner. The county also attracted textile mills to Yanceyville, which provided needed jobs. Such growth helped the local government broaden its tax base, which had been mainly tied to agriculture previously.[34]

During the last half of the 20th century and into the 21st, Caswell County's economy continued to modernize and experience growth away from traditional tobacco. Entrepreneurship also increased due to the area's business properties and land primed for development.[45]

Civil War period[]

In May of 1861, North Carolina reluctantly joined the Confederacy, which by then was at war with the Union.[46][47] Caswell County provided troops, clothing, food, and tobacco in support of the war effort. Companies A, C, and D of the North Carolina Thirteenth Regiment consisted almost entirely of county enlistments. The area's soldiers fought in every major Civil War battle and there were many casualties.[6][48]

In Caswell County in January of 1862, a significant number of African Americans fled slavery. Seven patrol squads comprised of roughly 35 men were dispatched to Yanceyville in search of them.[48] It is unknown if any were able to find safe haven behind Union lines. The Burnside Expedition along the North Carolina coast was still a month away.

In the spring of 1862, salt used for meat preservation was rationed, which was a statewide measure. As the war raged on, the county's inhabitants faced food shortages. Daily necessities were in short supply. Speculators benefitted while most remained in need.[48]

The minutes of the Caswell County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions from January 1863 to July 1866 were either lost or destroyed.[48] Consequently, it is difficult for researchers to ascertain what was occurring in the county's court system during this time period.

Due to the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, enslaved African Americans in Confederate territory were recognized as free individuals by the executive branch of the U.S. federal government. They gained military protection upon crossing into Union-controlled areas or through the advance of federal troops.

In 1860, approximately 58 percent of Caswell County's population was enslaved.[49] It is likely that many African Americans fled the area between 1863 and the war's end. It is also probable that a substantial number remained confined behind Confederate lines until Union forces occupied much of the state during the Carolinas campaign in 1865.[46]

Reconstruction era[]

After the Civil War during Reconstruction, the pattern of daily life in Caswell County dramatically changed. The previous plantation lifestyle had evaporated. Small farmers fell into deeper poverty. Abandoned land and eroded soil permeated the landscape. The area faced a decreased standard of living and insufficient public revenue for services that governments ordinarily provided.[6]

Many whites in the county resented the war's outcome as did others in the North Carolina Piedmont. Regional newspapers actively fomented their bitterness.[50] When Congressional Reconstruction was established in 1867, a large segment of residents characterized it as an effort by Radical Republicans to force Black suffrage upon them. A significant number began flocking to the Conservative Party, which was a coalition of the prewar Democratic Party and old-line Whigs.[50]

African Americans in the area had experienced immense jubilation when informed of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Their freedom was then safeguarded by Union troops, the Freedmen's Bureau, and the protection of the 13th Amendment. However, in 1866 restrictive state laws called "Black Codes" were passed in North Carolina by former Confederate legislators who had returned to power as Conservatives.[51] Enacted to maintain control over Blacks, these laws were nullified by congressional civil rights legislation later in 1866 and the 14th Amendment in 1868.

Between 1868 and 1869, the Republican-controlled General Assembly ratified both the 14th and 15th amendments. Ensuring the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, the 15th Amendment became a part of the Constitution in March 1870.[52] Over a span of five years from 1865-1870, African Americans had gained constitutional protection from slavery and voting rights. They could seek employment, use public accommodations, acquire the land of former owners, and participate in the political process.

In 1868, thirteen African American delegates representing 19 majority-Black counties attended the state's constitutional convention in Raleigh. They were North Carolina's first Black Caucus. Their members included a Republican legislator from Caswell County named Wilson Carey. At the convention, he spoke out against Conservative proposals to attract white immigrants to North Carolina. Carey felt the focus should instead be on African American North Carolinians who had built up the state.[53]

The 1868 convention passed resolutions that prohibited slavery, established a uniform public school system, and guaranteed universal male suffrage. The convention gave North Carolina a new government in 1868 that protected the rights of African Americans and supported the 14th Amendment. Consequently, the state was readmitted to the Union that same year on July 4th.[54]

Enfranchising Black Americans with the right to vote in elections was anathema to county and statewide Conservative Party members. This was not only due to their white supremacy but also because it threatened their power. Their animosity toward white and Black Republicans had begun to skyrocket when Republican gubernatorial candidate William W. Holden endorsed universal male suffrage at the party's state convention in March 1867.[50]

The suffrage resolution's passage and Holden's victory in 1868 substantially added to the continuing friction. This growing tension helped make Caswell County and the region a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity starting that same year. African Americans and their supporters in the area were subsequently subjected to a heinous campaign of violence, intimidation, and murder to prevent them from voting.[50]

Wyatt Outlaw's lynching and John W. Stephens' assassination culminated with Governor Holden imposing martial law on Caswell and Alamance counties during the Kirk-Holden War in July 1870. Confusion, terror, looting, and disorder ensued in the county. Many of the area's leading citizens were arrested by the governor's forces for suspected Klan membership. Habeas corpus was suspended.[6]

Holden's actions produced Klan member confessions, which contributed to the terrorist group's demoralization and subsequent departure from Caswell County. However, he was later impeached and removed from office in 1871 by Conservatives who had come into power on the heels of the public backlash they had spearheaded against him.[50]

Holden was impeached on eight charges for alleged actions during the Kirk–Holden War and convicted on six of them.[6] He was the first governor in American history to be removed from office. His departure severely weakened the Republican Party in the state.

The Conservative Party proceeded to institute white supremacy in state government in 1876. They dropped the name "Conservative" that same year to become the Democratic Party of North Carolina.[55] When federal troops left the next year, ending Reconstruction, the stage was set for the passage of Jim Crow laws.[54]

Civil rights movement[]

By the end of the 1960s, Caswell County's public schools were beginning to fully integrate. A decade and a half earlier in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. In a later decision by Court in May 1955 known as Brown II, school districts were given the ambiguous order to desegregate "with all deliberate speed".[56] Like many school boards in the South at the time, the Caswell County Board of Education interpreted the Court's ambiguity in a manner that served to delay, obstruct, and slow the process of integrating Black and white students.[57][58]

The Board of Education's resistance to integration had already been emboldened by North Carolina's passage of the Pupil Assignment Act in April 1955. The legislation gave local school boards full school placement authority.[58] Driven by the act's power, the Pearshall Plan's passage, and the prevailing anti-integration sentiment of the white community, the school district kept assigning children to schools in a segregated manner.[59]

In response to these developments, fifteen African American parents in August 1956 presented a petition to the school district calling for the abolition of segregation, which the board refused to consider. Undeterred, the parents organized protests that included the NAACP. A federal lawsuit was subsequently filed in December 1956 asking for the immediate desegregation of Caswell County and North Carolina schools.[60]

In August 1957, 43 local students, many of whom were plaintiffs via their parents in the federal court case, applied for admission to public schools that were closer to their homes than the segregated ones they had been assigned.[61] The school board denied their applications and continued to reject them through 1962.[59] Nevertheless, the lawsuit kept moving forward.

In December 1961, U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Stanley ruled that two brothers, Charlie and Fred Saunders, could promptly attend Archibald Murphey Elementary School, a now-closed formerly all-white school near Milton. When the new semester began in January, however, they did not present themselves for enrollment. The Ku Klux Klan had sent a threatening letter to the Saunders family not that long before.[62]

According to an affidavit submitted by the children's father C.H. Saunders Sr., the Klan's threats caused him to miss a school board reassignment hearing ordered by the judge in August 1961 prior to his final judgment. In his sworn statement, Saunders also conveyed that he would be agreeable to transferring schools if his children's protection at Murphey Elementary could be assured.[62]

A year later in December 1962, Stanley ruled that the school district had been improperly administering the Pupil Assignment Act. He told the school boards of Caswell County and the city of Durham to allow every schoolchild complete freedom of choice in school assignments.[63] On January 22, 1963, 16 African American schoolchildren enrolled in four of the county's previously all-white schools.[59]

On their first day of school, a group of white men harassed and threatened one of the parents, Jasper Brown, who was a local civil rights leader and farmer. He was pursued and menaced by the men as he drove home. After a rear-end collision, the other vehicle's driver emerged with a firearm. Fearing for his life, Brown shot and wounded two of the men in an exchange of fire before turning himself in to police.[59][64] Due to the circumstances, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was soon informed of the incident.[65]

Several months later, Brown was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and served 90 days in jail. While awaiting trial, white men bombed his yard.[66] His four children and the 12 others who integrated the county's schools were physically threatened and emotionally abused throughout the semester. Despite requests from the NAACP and concerned families, no police protection was provided. Furthermore, the Board of Education refused to arrange school bus transportation.[67][59]

By late 1967, only 57 African American children out of a Black student population of approximately 3,000 were attending integrated public schools in Caswell County.[68][59] While there had been some faculty integration, the less than two percent enrollment rate in essence preserved segregation. The school district's integration plan had not fostered sufficient desegregation.[69]

The Board of Education's "freedom of choice" plan put the onus of integration on individual African American students and parents, who had to opt to cross the color line themselves.[69] If they did so, they faced social stigma, severe discrimination, and other hardships. Consequently, many families, though supportive of integration efforts, chose to keep their children safe in valued Black schools such as Caswell County High School.[70][59]

The school district's low integration rate resulted in the U.S. Office of Education citing the county in 1966 as one of seven in the state that were not in compliance with its civil rights Title IV guidelines. The bureau began taking steps to cut off federal funding.[71] The school district was not in full compliance with federal integration standards until 1969.[72] In that year, the Board of Education implemented a plan for complete desegregation after Judge Stanley ordered the school district in August 1968 to integrate starting in the 1969-1970 school year.[59][73][74]

When school integration and consolidation subsequently occurred, Bartlett Yancey High School became the only public high school in the county after Caswell County High School's closure in 1969.[75] The old high school building's educational use was promptly reconfigured. The newly integrated school was named N. L. Dillard Junior High School in honor of the former high school's principal. Integrated elementary schools were established based on zoning.[72]

Political leaders[]

Caswell County has produced notable political leaders throughout its history. These include Donna Edwards, Archibald Debow Murphey, Romulus Mitchell Saunders, and Bartlett Yancey, Jr.

Legislators from the county had considerable influence on state politics during the first half of the 19th century.[34] Bartlett Yancey was Speaker of the North Carolina Senate from 1817-1827. Romulus Mitchell Saunders was concurrently Speaker of the North Carolina House of Commons from 1819-1820.

Archibald D. Murphey has been called the "Father of Education" in North Carolina. Serving as a state senator, he proposed a publicly financed system of education in 1817. Murphey also made proposals regarding internal improvements and constitutional reform.[76]

Donna Edwards is a former U.S. congresswoman. Before entering Congress, she was the executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, which provides advocacy and legal support to battered women. She worked to pass the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.

In 2015, Edwards and other members of Congress introduced the Restoring Education and Learning Act (REAL Act) to reinstate Pell Grants to prisoners.[77]

Depiction in the arts[]

Writers including Alex Haley and artists such as Maud Gatewood have commented on Caswell County's history in their work. The county was briefly referenced in Haley's 1977 television miniseries Roots. It was cited as the location of champion cock fighter Tom Moore's (Chuck Connors) plantation.[78] When Gatewood designed the county seal in 1974, she added two large tobacco leaves as a symbol of the crop's long prominence in the area.[79]

Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 428 square miles (1,110 km2), of which 425 square miles (1,100 km2) is land and 3.3 square miles (8.5 km2) (0.8%) is water.[80] The Dan River flows through a part of the county. Hyco Lake is an important water source.[4]

Adjacent counties[]

  • Person County - east
  • Orange County - southeast
  • Alamance County - south
  • Guilford County - southwest
  • Rockingham County - west

Demographics[]

Historical population
Census Pop.
179010,096
18008,701−13.8%
181011,75735.1%
182013,25312.7%
183015,18514.6%
184014,693−3.2%
185015,2693.9%
186016,2156.2%
187016,081−0.8%
188017,82510.8%
189016,028−10.1%
190015,028−6.2%
191014,858−1.1%
192015,7596.1%
193018,21415.6%
194020,03210.0%
195020,8704.2%
196019,912−4.6%
197019,055−4.3%
198020,7058.7%
199020,693−0.1%
200023,50113.6%
201023,7190.9%
2018 (est.)22,618[81]−4.6%
U.S. Decennial Census[82]
1790-1960[83] 1900-1990[84]
1990-2000[85] 2010-2013[1]

As of the census[86] of 2000, there were 23,501 people, 8,670 households, and 6,398 families residing in the county. The population density was 55 people per square mile (21/km2). There were 9,601 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile (9/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 61.07% White, 36.52% African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.17% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. 1.77% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 8,670 households, out of which 31.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.20% were married couples living together, 14.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.20% were non-families. 23.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.20% under the age of 18, 7.70% from 18 to 24, 30.10% from 25 to 44, 26.00% from 45 to 64, and 13.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $35,018, and the median income for a family was $41,905. Males had a median income of $28,968 versus $22,339 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,470. About 10.90% of families and 14.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.30% of those under age 18 and 21.10% of those age 65 or over.

Economy[]

The economy of Caswell County is rooted in agriculture, which continues to modernize and experience growth away from traditional tobacco. There has been an increase in entrepreneurship due to the area's business properties and land primed for development.[45]

The county's agricultural sector produces products such as tobacco, soybeans, corn, wheat, oats, barley, hay, alfalfa, beef cattle, sheep, swine, and chickens. Manufactured goods include clothing, textiles, and electronics. The area also produces several minerals, such as mica, microcline, beryl, graphite, corundum, and soapstone.[4]

The Caswell County Local Foods Council manages the Caswell Farmers' Market in Yanceyville and initiates community-driven projects.[87]

The county is home to two industrial parks: Pelham Industrial Park located in Pelham and Caswell County Industrial Park located in Yanceyville.[88] CoSquare, a coworking space that offers several business possibilities for entrepreneurs, is located in Yanceyville's downtown historic district.[89]

Healthcare facilities in Caswell County include:

  • Compassion Health Care, Inc., which was previously called the Caswell Family Medical Center.[90]
  • Brian Health & Rehabilitation and Caswell House offer care to those with special needs, especially older individuals.[91][92]
  • Sovah Family Medicine-Yanceyville

Caswell County benefits from its proximity to the greater Piedmont Triad area, Danville, Virginia, and the Research Triangle. Residents have access to a host of goods, services, attractions, and employment in the region. The county receives economic activity in kind from these neighboring areas.

Government and politics[]

Caswell County's government consists of 28 departments, an elected board of commissioners, a clerk to the board, and an appointed county manager.[93] The county has additional central administration, Cooperative Extension, E-911, and Juvenile Crime Prevention Council staff.[94] Caswell County is a member of the Piedmont Triad Regional Council.[95]

Presidential elections results

North Carolina General Assembly representatives:

  • Senate: Phil Berger (R)

Education[]

Primary and secondary education[]

The Caswell County public school system has six schools ranging from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. The school district operates one high school (Bartlett Yancey High School), one middle school, and four elementary schools.[97]

Higher education[]

Piedmont Community College has an extension site in Yanceyville.

Attractions[]

Outdoor recreation[]

The Caswell County Parks and Recreation Department offers a variety of sports and activities, especially for children.

The county's recreational areas include:[98]

  • Caswell County Rec & Parks
  • Maud Gatewood Memorial Park
  • S.R. Farmer Lake
  • Caswell Community Arboretum
  • Caswell Pines Golf Course
  • Caswell Gamelands Camping and Archery
  • Animal Park at the Conservators Center
  • Hyco Lake
  • South Hyco Creek

The Cherokee Scout Reservation operates a nationally accredited Boy Scouts camp near S.R. Farmer Lake.[99]

Cultural attractions[]

Caswell County hosts two major festivals a year: the "Bright Leaf Hoedown" and the "Spring Fling".[100] The "Hoedown" is a one-day outdoor festival held in late September in downtown Yanceyville. It features local food vendors, live entertainment, crafts, and non-profit organizations, usually drawing more than 5,000 guests.[101][102] The "Spring Fling" is a two-day event and is held on a weekend in late April or early May on the grounds of the Providence Volunteer Fire Department.[103]

The Caswell County Historical Association hosts its annual Heritage Festival in Yanceyville every May. The festival celebrates county history through tours, living history reenactments, games, vendors, and live music.[104]

Downtown Yanceyville's historic district features an antebellum courthouse designed by William Percival and several other antebellum houses and buildings.

Caswell County's cultural attractions also include:[105][4]

  • Union Tavern, the workshop of Thomas Day, a free Black furniture craftsman and cabinetmaker who worked in Milton
  • Bartlett Yancey House
  • Richmond-Miles Museum
  • Yanceyville Museum of Art
  • Caswell Council for the Arts
  • Yanceyville Pavillion
  • Gunn Memorial Public Library
  • Thomas Day House Annual Heritage Tour of Homes
  • The Milton Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration

Facilities[]

  • The Caswell County Civic Center in Yanceyville has a full-size professionally equipped stage, a 912-seat auditorium, and meeting and banquet facilities for up to 500. The Civic Center also has accessories for concerts, theatre, and social functions as well as a lobby art gallery.[106]
  • The Caswell County Senior Center in Yanceyville has recreational and fitness facilities that were built in 2009.[107]

Communities[]

Map of Caswell County, North Carolina with municipal and township labels

Towns[]

  • Milton
  • Yanceyville

Unincorporated communities[]

Townships[]

  • Anderson
  • Hightowers
  • Leasburg
  • Locust Hill
  • Providence
  • Milton
  • Pelham
  • Stoney Creek
  • Yanceyville

Infrastructure[]

Transportation[]

Airports[]

  • Raleigh-Durham International Airport, located 56 miles (90 km) southeast of Yanceyville
  • Piedmont Triad International Airport, located 46.5 miles (75 km) southwest of Yanceyville
  • Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport, located 29.4 miles (47 km) southwest of Yanceyville
  • Person County Airport, located 26.2 miles (42 km) southeast of Yanceyville
  • Danville Regional Airport, located 15.3 miles (25 km) north of Yanceyville

Major highways[]

Interstate 40 and Interstate 85 are the closest interstate highways to the county, located 14 miles south in Graham.

Railroad[]

Danville Amtrak station, located 13.9 miles (22 km) north of Yanceyville

Public transit[]

  • Caswell County Area Transportation System (CATS)[108]

Utilities[]

  • Caswell County's electric system is maintained by Duke Energy and the Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation.
  • Telephone network: CenturyLink
  • Wireless networks: AT&T Mobility, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless
  • Broadband internet: CenturyLink and Comcast
  • Cable television: Comcast

Notable people[]

Academia:

  • A. Oveta Fuller (born 1955), associate professor of microbiology at University of Michigan Medical School
  • William Louis Poteat (1856–1938), professor of biology and president of Wake Forest University, public intellectual, early advocate of Darwinian evolution
  • Henry Lee Graves (1813-1881), president of Baylor University
  • Henry Roland Totten (1892-1974), botanist

Art and literature:

  • Moses Roper (1815-1891), African American abolitionist, author, and orator
  • Maud Gatewood (1934-2004), artist
  • Ida Isabella Poteat (1858–1940), artist and instructor
  • Hazel Smith (1934-2018), country music journalist, publicist, singer-songwriter, television and radio show host, and cookbook author

Athletes:

Business:

  • Thomas Day (1801-1861), free Black furniture craftsman and cabinetmaker
  • Samuel Simeon Fels (1860–1950), businessman and philanthropist
  • Edmund Richardson (1818-1886), entrepreneur who produced and marketed cotton

Government and law:

  • Donna Edwards (born 1958), former U.S. Representative
  • Bartlett Yancey, Jr. (1785–1828), Democrat-Republican U.S. Congressman
  • John H. Kerr (1873–1958), jurist and politician
  • John Kerr Jr. (congress) (1811–1879), Congressional Representative and jurist
  • John Kerr (Virginia Congressman) (1782–1842), member of the U.S. House of Representatives
  • Bedford Brown (1795-1870), U.S. Senator
  • Archibald Dixon (1802-1876), U.S. Senator
  • John Kerr Hendrick (1849-1921), U.S. Representative
  • Anderson Mitchell (1800-1876), U.S. Representative
  • Romulus Mitchell Saunders (1791-1867), U.S. Representative
  • Marmaduke Williams (1774-1850), Democratic-Republican U.S. Congressman
  • Jacob Thompson (1810-1885), U.S. Secretary of the Interior
  • Richard Caswell (1729-1789), first governor of North Carolina
  • Jacob E. Long (1880–1955), 15th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina from 1925 to 1929 serving under Governor Angus W. McLean
  • Archibald Debow Murphey (1777-1832), attorney, jurist, and politician who was known as the "Father of Education" in North Carolina
  • John W. Stephens (1834–1870), state senator from North Carolina, agent for the Freedmen's Bureau
  • Calvin Graves (1804–1877), member of the North Carolina General Assembly and North Carolina State Senate
  • Hugh Webster (born 1943), former member of the North Carolina General Assembly
  • George “Royal George” Williamson (1788-1856), member of the North Carolina State Senate
  • Giles Mebane (1809-1899), Speaker of the North Carolina Senate during most of the Civil War
  • Benjamin J. Lea (1833-1894), lawyer and politician who served as a Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court

Musicians:

  • The Badgett Sisters, folk and gospel group comprised of sisters Celester, Connie, and Cleonia Badgett
  • Max Drake (born 1952), musician
  • Mel Melton, musician
  • Ray Scott (born 1969), country music artist

Miscellaneous:

  • Henrietta Phelps Jeffries (1857-1926), African American midwife and a founding member of the Macedonia A.M.E. Church in Milton
  • Oscar Penn Fitzgerald (1829-1911), Methodist clergyman, journalist, and educator
  • Peter U. Murphey (-), naval officer and captain of the CSS Selma during the Civil War

See also[]

References[]

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External links[]

Coordinates: 36°24′N 79°20′W / 36.40°N 79.33°W / 36.40; -79.33

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