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Jb After the Civil War , the entire agricultural system of Orange County (as well as the entire South) had to be restructured from one that was dependent upon slave labor to one that relied on share tenancy . After the Civil War , there was a shift towards cotton production, which continued as the major crop until around 1930 (Lefler and Wager 1953 : 236 , Kenzer 1987 : 113 ) . Dairying later became an important part of the county ' s economy , forming the second largest source of income to Orange County farmers by the early 1950s (Lefler and Wager 1953 # 242) . Early land grants suggest that the first European Americans chose to settle on the fertile soils along rivers and streams , indicating the high potential in these locations for sites whose beginning date of occupation falls in the eighteenth century . Particularly sensitive areas would be around the early Quaker settlements at Mars Hill , where a combination of useable water power and fertile land made this location appealing . Another source for predicting site locations is historic maps . Many of these maps , such as the 1770 Collet and 1775 Mouzon Maps , show the placement of roads , and others , like the 1891 Tate Map , even detail the locations of mills , churches , houses and mines . The number of roads , particularly in the northern part of the county , greatly increased during the last half of the nineteenth century . Since road placement and settlement are highly correlated , houses , and stores would be expected close to roads. Parma bons would appear around crossroads , like White Cross or Teer . The locations of churches and cemeteries (for example , 45 churches are shown on the 1891 Tate Map) would also suggest that communities or clusters of homes were located nearby . The primarily agricultural base of the county throughout its historic period would have structured land use in several ways . The pattern of landholding associated with yeoman farming would have structured the dispersal of farmsteads across the county . Some variation may be expected through time as the predominant form of crop changed . Not only would there be alterations in field patterns , but specialized buildings , such as tobacco barns or grain silos , would be constructed as support facilities . For the period before the Civil War , slave quarters associated with farmsteads would have been common . After the war , while the domestic sites of the majority of African-American tenant farmers apparently changed little architecturally or materially from those of slaves , these should be more dispersed throughout the county . Summary A recent study of the county has shown that over the last fifty years the general landscape has become more diversified , with agricultural land decreasing and forested land increasing . With the expansive growth of the university during the second half of the twentieth century , and the establishment of Research Triangle Park in the 1960s , the construction of housing , roads , and service-related industries to accommodate the growing population has had a distinct effect on the landscape . Much of this urban development has occurred in the southeastern comer of the county , in the Chapel Hill and 8