Hillsborough

… town and county seat, central Orange County on Eno River. Alt. 543. John Lawson visited the Indian town of Occaneechi there, 1701. Appears on the Moseley map, 1733. In 1754 the site came to be known as Corbinton for Francis Corbin, colonial official. Est. as Childsburgh, 1759, in honor of Thomas Childs, attorney general of the province. Name changed to Hillsborough in 1766 in honor of Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough (1718-93), president of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and secretary of state for the colonies. The spelling later changed unofficially to Hillsboro, but the original spelling was restored in 1965. The legislature met there in 1778 and 1782-84.