About Open Orange
Open Orange is based on the Contributing Structure platform, a Drupal-based website created by Gary Kueber and several Drupal developers. Its first iteration was Open Durham, a crowdsourced (think Wikipedia) inventory of buildings, people, and places in Durham, NC, which Gary donated to Preservation Durham in May 2016.
Open Orange aims to be a county-wide inventory for Orange County, North Carolina. It's easy to create a login and begin adding information and stories to the site - see the support page. The best information and most compelling stories about our history and our built environment comes from people like you.
The site is not a non-profit, because of the headache of maintaining a non-profit - but it is not-for-profit. Its purpose is to create easier access to historical and architectural information for busy 21st century folks - with a focus on a very local and granular history of the places people might encounter on a daily basis.
Site Credits:
Conception / Keeping things running: Gary Kueber
Authorship: Gary Kueber and Steve Rankin
Initial Design: QuickBrownFox Design
Developers: Christina Dulude, Alisa Herr, Chris Russo, Cuberis, Carlos Valdivia, Barb Baranski
Resources:
Lloyd, Allen A. and Pauline O. History of the Town of Hillsborough 1754-1966. Self-published.
Pender, Irene O. A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983. Hillsborough, NC: Shanklin's Press, 1983.
Otto, David A. and Richard Ellington. Images of America: Carrboro. Arcadia Publishing, 2011.
Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural & Historic Buildings Inventory, 1983
Holaday, Chris. Images of America: Hillsborough. Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Library of Congress (HABS, FSA)
UNC - Chapel Hill (Postcard Collection, Maps)
North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office
Orange County, NC Historic Information Cache (by Steve Rankin; no longer updated)
Ryan, Elizabeth S. Orange County Trio - Histories and Tour Guides. Chapel Hill Press, 2004.
Dula, Lucille N. Pelican Guide to Hillsborough. Pelican Pub Co Inc, 1989.
Bellinger, Susan M. Photocensus: A Photographic Survey of Buildings in the Hillsborough, N.C. Historic District Built Prior to 1950. 1991.
Town of Hillsborough, North Carolina General Development Plan 1968-1988.
The Colonial Inn. Authentic Southern Recipes from the Colonial Inn. 1972.
A Sketch of the School of Miss Nash and Miss Kollock, by Mrs. W. S. Primbone, 1926
History of the Churches of Hillsborough
Bryant, Bernard Lee. Occupants and structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina at 5-year intervals, 1793-1998.
Chilton, Mark. Wandering through the NC Piedmont (blog).
Expanded Collection of All Sales of Enslaved People in Orange County
Chapel Hill Fire Department History
Blue Flame: Central High Yearbook (1957)
Silhouette: Hillsbrough High Yearbook (1958, 1940, 1938)
People sources:
Tom Campanella
Tom Magnuson (and the Trading Path Association)
Ernie Dollar
Peter Sandbeck
Mark Chilton
Steve Davis
Rich Shaw
Brooks Graebner
David Southern (RIP, 1946-2021); much (most?) of the information on this site would not have been made available without him
