by The Cultural Arts Group

On Sept. 9, 1752, a new county was born in the North Carolina back country - a county that spanned the area from present-day Greensboro to present-day Durham, from the Virginia line to the Uwharrie mountains.

On that day, Orange County became a reality as its first colonial court of common pleas and quarter sessions was held at Grayfields along the Eno River.

Originally inhabited by the Occaneechi/Saponi nation and other Native American tribes, the new county encompassed a land area of 3,500 square miles (versus 400 today) that included all of present day Alamance, Caswell, Person, Durham and Chatham counties as well as parts of Wake, Lee, Randolph, Guilford and Rockingham counties.

Mindful of our heritage, the mission of the Orange County 250 celebration is to bring together citizens to celebrate and educate themselves about the people past and present who have called Orange County home.

As citizens in one of the oldest Piedmont counties, Orange County's 120,000 residents -- up from 4,000 when the county was formed -- have a lot to celebrate:

• Our commitment to education, from the founding of the University of North Carolina, the nation's first state university when it opened in 1795, through early advocacy for universal public education, the development of six freedmen's schools by 1868, a district tax enacted in the 1940s to boost local school funding in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, to today's changing UNC-Chapel Hill and local school systems rated among the best in the Southeastern United States.

• Our will to preserve cultural resources such as our tapestry of distinctive buildings and neighborhoods, as well as our farmland and natural treasures like Occoneechee Mountain and the Eno River corridor.

• Our growing diversity, beginning with Indian nations, recast by the arrival of people from Europe and Africa, and shaped recently by the addition of persons from Asia, Latin America and other parts of the globe.

• Our ongoing love of independence, whether reflected in the actions of the Regulators or the patriots of the American Revolution, by women fighting for equality, African-Americans struggling to secure their civil rights, sharecroppers and mill workers striving for dignity, or free-speech advocates protecting free expression in the mid-20th century. In all of these struggles, important battles were fought and won in Orange County.

The anniversary of the county's founding provides an opportunity and need to celebrate its 250 rich years. Social and political issues may sometimes divide us, yet there is much that argues for recognizing our common ground. Knowing that a diversity of interests, cultures and ideas have been a mainstay of the past 250 years makes it easier for us to welcome the diversity that the future will surely bring.

The Orange County 250 committee seeks your help in celebrating our common heritage. There are plans to:

• Hold a kick-off event commemorating the county's origin beginning on Sept. 8 with a several-mile walk from Moorefields to Hillsborough bearing artifacts from the 1750s, followed on Sept. 9 by a re-enactment of the first county court in the 1840 courthouse, brief remarks from several county dignitaries and a ringing of church and courthouse bells across the county.

• Post highway signs and banners that advertise and celebrate our anniversary, featuring a juried logo commissioned for the occasion.

• Encourage the county's numerous and varied civic and service organizations to incorporate programs with an Orange County 250 theme during the semi-quincentennial year beginning Sept. 9.

• Develop driving tours and other activities related to the county's heritage and diversity, encouraging local residents and visitors to explore Orange County.

• Close the year-long celebrations by hosting an event saluting the county's past, present and future in September 2003.

Help us set the stage for a year of unity and celebration by volunteering to work with Orange County 250, by making a contribution, by identifying existing events that might share the anniversary theme, or by participating in related events throughout the year.