Lee County, North Carolina

I had a short but nice visit to Lee County, North Carolina, back on August 16. I had driven through Lee County before, but this was my first time to stop and visit, and I enjoyed it!

Lee County was formed in 1907 from parts of three surrounding counties (Harnett, Chatham, and Moore). It was named for General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army. The county seat is Sanford, a city of nearly 30,000 people. One of Sanford's largest local industries in brick making, so it's fitting that Sanford, as the county seat, is home to the lovely brick Lee County Courthouse.



Driving through Sanford, a place called the Temple Theatre caught my eye, so I stopped and took a few pictures of it, too. According to the Wikipedia article about it, the Temple Theatre has been a cultural center during different periods of Sanford's history. I'm glad it's been restored and kept up.

Before I left the area, I decided to look for a geocache, and the hunt took me to Deep River Park, and the Camelback Bridge, which spans the Deep River and crosses the border between Lee and Chatham Counties. It was a lovely stop, a very peaceful place. (I also found the geocache, which made it even more fun!)

The rest of my Lee County, North Carolina, photos are here.

Greene County, North Carolina

Last Saturday, I spent part of a rainy day in Greene County, North Carolina! I'd never been to Green County before, so it was a treat!

Greene County Courthouse

Greene County was named for Nathanael Greene, a major general in the American Revolutionary War. (The North Carolina cities of Greenville and Greensboro are both named after Nathanael Greene as well, but neither of those cities are actually in Greene County.) The county was first formed in 1791 and named Glasgow County, for former North Carolina Secretary of State James Glasgow. He got in hot water over his involvement in military land grand fraud, though, and had to leave the state. That's when Glasgow County's name was changed to Greene County.

Downtown Snow Hill

Snow Hill, chartered back in 1828, is the county seat and largest city in Greene County, with a population of a little over 1600 residents. The downtown area looked pretty sparse during my visit, but it was a rainy Saturday. Once I found and took a photo of the Greene County Courthouse, I decided to look for some geocaches in the area, and was delighted to drive through part of Snow Hill's historic district and other parts of the county. Greene County is definitely an agricultural county, as I passed many crops, mainly tobacco, but others too, possibly soybeans or sweet potatoes. Snow Hill will host the 2014 North Carolina Sweet Potato Festival in mid-September. (I love sweet potatoes, so maybe I'll go back for that!)

Maury Train Station

I made a quick stop in the quaint unincorporated community of Maury on my way back home. There are a few businesses in this quaint crossroads area. To the right is a photo of the old Maury Train Depot.

These and the other photos I took last Saturday have been posted to Flickr. You can find them here.