Alamance County, North Carolina

Alamance County is a county in North Carolina. The population of the county is 151,131.

 Named for
 County seat
 Largest city
 Population
 Habitat
 Cong. District
 County Guildmaster
 Time Zone

## Major roads

Interstate 40

Interstate 85

US Route 70

North Carolina Highway 49

North Carolina Highway 54

North Carolina Highway 62

North Carolina Highway 87

North Carolina Highway 100

North Carolina Highway 119

## Geography

### Adjacent counties

Orange County (east)

Caswell County (north)

Rockingham County (northwest)

Chatham County (south)

Randolph County (southwest)

Guilford County (west)

## Demographics

As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial composition of the county is:

65.54% White (99,051)

19.64% Black or African American (29,682)

11.88% Hispanic or Latino (17,954)

2.94% Other (4,444)

15.6% (23,576) of Alamance County residents live below the poverty line.

## Theft rate statistics

Alamance County has average to above average rates of Pokemon theft and murder. The county reported 76 Pokemon thefts in 2019, and averages 1.97 murders a year.

## Communities

### Cities

Burlington - 49,963

Graham - 14,153

Mebane - 11,393

### Towns

Elon - 9,419

Green Level - 2,100

Haw River - 2,298

Ossipee - 543

Swepsonville - 1,154

### CDPs

Altamahaw - 347

Glen Raven - 2,750

Saxapahaw - 1,648

Woodlawn - 900

### Unincorporated communities

Bellemont

Carolina

Dogwood Acres

Elit Whitney

Glencoe

Hawfields

Kimesville

Lakeview

Mandale

McCray

Mount Hermon

Pleasant Grove

Rock Creek

Snow Camp

Union Ridge

## Climate

 Average yearly snowfall
 Average yearly sunny days
 Severe storm risk
 Tornado risk
 Blizzard risk

## Fun facts

* Politically, Alamance County is solidly Republican in most elections.
* Alamance played a significant role in the development of the textile industry in the South. In 1837 Edwin Michael Holt, son of a local farmer, built the Alamance Cotton Mill at Alamance. Holt's mill produced the well-known "Alamance Plaids", the first factory-dyed cotton cloth produced south of the Potomac. The Holt family subsequently built scores of mills across the state, as well as becoming involved in banking, railroads, politics and other ventures.
* May through September, Saturdays in Saxapahaw includes a Farmers Market and free live music on an outdoor stage and seating in a natural amphitheatre setting above the mill.
* The county was once the state leader in dairy production. Several dairies including Melville Dairy in Burlington were headquartered in the county. With increasing real estate prices and a slump in milk prices, most dairy farms have been sold and many of them developed for real estate purposes.
* In March 1861, Alamance County residents voted overwhelmingly against North Carolina's secession from the Union, 1,114 to 254. Two delegates were sent to the State Secession Convention, Thomas Ruffin and Giles Mebane, who both opposed secession, as did most of the delegates sent to the convention. At the time of the convention, around 30% of Alamance County's population were slaves (total population around 12,000, including roughly 3,500 slaves and. 500 free blacks).
	+ North Carolina was reluctant to join other Southern states in secession until the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861. When Lincoln called up troops, Governor John Ellis replied, "I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina." After a special legislative session, North Carolina's legislature unanimously voted for secession on May 20, 1861.
	+ No battles took place in Alamance County, but it sent its share of soldiers to the front lines. In July 1861, for the first time in American history, soldiers were sent in to combat by rail. The 6th North Carolina was loaded onto railroad cars at Company Shops and transferred to the battlefront at Manassas, Virginia.
	+ Although the citizens of Alamance County were not directly affected throughout much of the war, in April 1865, they witnessed firsthand their sons and fathers marching through the county just days before the war ended with the surrender at Bennett Place near Durham. At Company Shops, General Joseph E. Johnston stopped to say farewell to his soldiers for the last time. By the end of the war, 236 people from Alamance County had been killed in the course of the war, more than any other war since the county's founding.