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6 Geography Orange County covers nearly 400 square miles, or 254,720 acres of rolling farms and forest, urban centers and small towns, with an average 336 persons per square mile. The County is comprised of three incorporated municipalities: the Town of Chapel Hill is the largest with a population of 59,376; Carrboro, adjacent to Chapel Hill has a population of 20,984; Hillsborough, the county seat, has a population of 6,388; and a portion of the City of Mebane (which is mostly in Alamance County) has a population of 1,903. History Originally home to a succession of Native American tribes that included the Haw, Eno, Occaneechi, and others, the area including what is now Orange County covered 3,500 square miles. This large area also included all of present day Alamance, Caswell, Person, Durham, and Chatham counties as well as parts of Wake, Lee, Randolph, Guilford and Rockingham counties. On September 9, 1752, following English settlement, Orange County was founded and named after William V of Orange and King William III of England. County boundaries have changed considerably since the 1750s. The county seat for Orange is Hillsborough, founded in 1754 and first called Corbin Town, then Childsburgh, and in 1766 the town’s final name became Hillsborough. Hillsborough is an old and interesting town located on land where the Great Indian Trading Path crossed the Eno River and was the center of much colonial activity. The County is divided into the seven townships of Bingham, Cedar Grove, Chapel Hill, Cheeks, Eno, Hillsborough, and Little River9. Land Use Forest land is the predominant land use within the county, followed by farmland, though both are rapidly disappearing as low density residential land use continues to expand. According to recent Commission for the Environment reports, urban sprawl is an increasing problem within Orange County and we are a part of the Triangle region of NC which has been rated as having the third highest incidence of urban sprawl in the nation. Faith and Spirituality There are over 600 places of worship located in Orange County, to include churches, mosques, synagogues and other faith organizations. These institutions provide a source of spiritual nourishment, community support and resources to the residents of Orange County. As residents face the challenge of trying to stay connected to their community in an area where the population is growing and changing quickly, their spiritual homes become sources of social interaction, information exchange, and even health care.