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Whenever Roxboro is mentioned, many people think of family farms and small town living. Person County has its own distinct history that makes it unique and special to its inhabitants. (Click here for Person County Museum site)

LOCATION - Person County is located in the Northern Piedmont section of North Carolina. The county is bordered by Durham, Orange, Granville, and Caswell Counties, and the state of Virginia. There are several small water courses in the county: Hyco and Mayo Lakes and the Tar and Flat Rivers. The structure of the water coursing over this plateau has created numerous valleys. The ridges in the county are not narrow and sharp like much of the Piedmont, and the gullies and ditches are not as abrupt. Instead, the land gathers itself into strong swells that are small enough to represent the flat plateaus of the Piedmont but are intersected with wide meadows. As a result, Person County claims two small mountains: Mt. Tirzah and Hagar's Mountain.

FORMED - Person County was formed in 1791 by dividing Caswell County into two precise squares. Each of the sides measures 20 miles to make a county of 400 square miles. The county was named for the Revolutionary War Patriot, General Thomas Person. Person contributed many great things to Person County and the surrounding areas. He served as a trustee at the University of North Carolina, and as a result of his generous monetary donations to the institution, a building called Person Hall was constructed in his honor.

During the Revolutionary War, General Stephen Moore commanded troops in the county. One day he rode to the top of a hill and admired the beautiful scenery. He vowed that he would return to this "Lost Eden" after the war and make it his home. In 1793 he bought the property and built his home which he called Mt. Tirzah (Mount Beautiful). The old home is still there and is owned by a descendant of General Moore. The front porch overlooks the gentle sights the general once saw. However, General Moore still admires the beauty as he sleeps in a grave on a nearby hill.

Before the Civil War, Person County was a well-established plantation center. The early farming consisted of tobacco, cotton, corn, wheat, oats, fruits, vegetables, cattle, hogs, and sheep. A majority of these are still produced today in the county. However, agriculture had to sit on the back bumper while the Civil War was being fought. Person County rallied to the Confederacy and sent 800 to 1,000 soldiers into the armies. Today on the Courthouse Lawn there is a granite monument in honor of Captain Fletcher Satterfield who advanced the Confederate flag at Gettysburg. After the Civil War, the Reconstruction began. The once large plantations were dismantled, and the ownership of small farms prevailed. The social and economic ideas and philosophies were totally different, and some of the inhabitants found it hard to accept these new ideas.
J.A. Long is regarded as the founder of modern Roxboro. Because of his investments with major railroad companies, the Norfolk and Western Railroad Companies moved into Roxboro, bringing with them tobacco processing plants and warehouses. Although the processing plants disappeared many years ago, the warehouses are still abundant.  Mr. Long also established the Peoples Bank in 1891 and the Roxboro Cotton Mill in 1899.  In 1915 Mr. Long passed away, but his son J.A. Long, Jr. began to attract new businesses to Roxboro. He brought the Baker Company to Roxboro in 1923. That company merged and became the nationally known Collins and Aikman. Today, C&A is still one of the major industries in Person County.

TODAY - Person County has seen many changes in the social and economic ways of life. For years, Person County has offered a well-balanced community, equally dividing industry and agriculture. Today, it greets many new citizens and industries. Person County's history of hard work and persistence will help it grow even more and continue the journey into the 21 st century.