Солтүстік Каролина штатындағы Рокингем округінің тарихы

County in North Carolina, United States

Rockingham County is a county located in the U. S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,096. The county is known as "North Carolina's North Star".

Prior to European colonization, the area eventually comprising Rockingham County was inhabited by Cheraw/Saura Native Americans. In the 1600s they inhabited several small settlements along the Dan River, though around 1710 they migrated towards South Carolina. Between 1728 and 1733, the Dan River Valley in the Granville District was surveyed by William Byrd II as part of efforts to delineate the North Carolina Virginia border. He soon thereafter purchased 20,000 acres of the land, which he described as the "Land of Eden" to attract prospective farmers. The region's first white settlers came from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia and were of German, English, Scottish, and Irish descent. Some had wealthy backgrounds, but most were poor. Some local white men served in militias during the American Revolutionary War. American troops under General Nathanael Greene and British troops under General Charles Cornwallis moved through the area around the time of the Battle of Guilford Court House in 1781. The North Carolina General Assembly created Rockingham County from a northern portion of Guilford County on December 29, 1785. It was named for Charles Watson Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Settlement, mostly by Scotch Irish Americans, continued from 1785 up until 1800. Rockingham County's first court session was convened near Eagle Falls south of the Dan River in February 1786. The following year a wooden courthouse was erected near the center of the county and the community of Rockingham Courthouse was established. The community was renamed Wentworth in 1798, Wentworth remained a poor and sparse community well into the early 1800s, sustained only by business related to governmental affairs. Leaksville was established in 1795 in an attempt to build a trading community near the confluence of the Dan and Smith rivers.

By the early 1800s, economic activity in Rockingham County was largely centered around small farms in hilly areas and a handful of plantations near the rivers. Most farmers were engaged in subsistence operations, with tobacco planted as the area's primary cash crop. The economy began to diversify after 1812. In 1813, John Motley Morehead erected the county's first cotton mill at the confluence of the Dan and Smith rivers in Leaksville. In 1818 the town of Madison was platted and the trading post of Jackson was established at Eagle Falls. By 1831, Leaksville hosted an oil mill, sawmill, and cotton gin. Nevertheless, throughout most of the 1800s, tobacco was the main source of economic activity in Rockingham County, with the towns of Madison, Leaksville, and Reidsville serving as market towns for the crop. Following the passage of public school legislation, in 1840 the first public school in North Carolina opened in Rockingham County. A tobacco manufacturing facility was opened in Reidsville in 1856, At the time of its construction, the Avalon Mill was the largest textile manufacturing plant in the state. The Avalon Mill burned down in 1911, and the rest of the community was integrated into Mayodan. By 1920, the textile operations in the area had consolidated in the latter town as the Washington Mills, making Mayodan the center of western Rockingham's textile industry. By the 1890s, Morehead had grouped his textile holdings into two companies, the Leaksville Cotton and Woolen Mill Company and the Spray Water Power and Land Company, and turned them over to his son in law, Frank Mebane. Under Mebane's direction and with the backing of northern investors, the Spray Water Power and Land Company, between 1898 and 1906, built six new cotton mills and created a warehouse company. The expansion of the textile industry led to the growth of two new mill communities in the vicinity of Leaksville, Spray and Draper. The three communities collectively became known as the "Tri Cities". One of Mebane's holdings, the Spray Cotton Mills company, was sold to a private owner in 1897. Economic differences between the tobacco heavy Reidsville area and the textile based Leaksville Draper Spray area also created political fault lines during the early 20th century. Social, political, and economic rivalries also emerged between Reidsville, Leaksville Draper Spray, and the western Rockingham towns of Madison, Mayodan, and Stoneville. Under American Tobacco's control, the factory quickly rose to become Reidsville's most significant industry and the county's largest taxpayer. Offering high wages to workers, in the 1940s and 1950s it served as its corporate owner's flagship facility and peaked with the employment of 2,000 workers. The consolidation led Eden to surpass Reidsville as the county's largest city.

The textile industry struggled nationally in the 1980s and 1990s. Stoneville's major employer, a furniture factory, filed for bankruptcy in 1990. The tornado damaged homes and a textile mill in Mayodan, destroyed several buildings in Stoneville's main business district, and killed two people. In 1999, the former Washington Mills plant in Mayodan closed. Pluma closed its Eden plant in 1999, Spray Cotton Mills closed its yarn mill in 2001, and Pillowtex collapsed in 2003. Some former workers moved to larger cities outside the county in search of jobs. In February 2014, a coal ash pond in Eden at Duke Power's Dan River Steam Station spilled into the Dan River.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 572.76 square miles (1,483 km2), of which 565.64 square miles (1,465 km2) is land and 7.12 square miles (18 km2) (1.24%) is water. It is bordered by the North Carolina counties of Caswell, Alamance, Guilford, Forsyth, and Stokes, and the Virginia counties of Henry and Pittsylvania. Rockingham County is crossed by four major rivers. The Dan, Mayo, and Smith Rivers are concentrated in the northwestern portion of the county and feed into the Roanoke River drainage basin. The Haw River in the southeastern portion feeds into the Cape Fear River basin. The county also hosts several creeks, including Matrimony, Cascade, Hogans, County Line, Troublesome, and Little Troublesome. There are also two major lakes, Belews Lake and Lake Reidsville.

Rockingham County lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 22nd Prosecutorial District, the 17A Superior Court District, and the 17A District Court District. County voters elect a clerk of Superior Court and a sheriff.

Historically, Rockingham County's economy was largely based around textiles and tobacco. The county has experienced growth in recent years in tourism, manufacturing, and the creation of additional small businesses. Major employers in the county include the government, healthcare facilities, textile manufacturers such as Unifi and Gildan Yarns, firearms manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co., and Walmart. Rockingham has a poverty rate of 18 percent, above state and national averages. According to the American Community Survey, from 2017 to 2021 the estimated median household income was $46,993. In December 2023, the county reported an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent.

Public education is provided by Rockingham County Schools, which operates 12 elementary schools, four middle schools, four high schools, an early college high school, and an alternative school. The system is led by a school board elected in partisan contests. There is one post primary institution, Rockingham Community College, located in Wentworth. According to the 2021 American Community Survey, an estimated 14.5 percent of county residents have attained a bachelor's degree or higher level of education.

Rockingham County is served by two hospitals, Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville and UNC Rockingham Health Care in Eden. According to the 2021 American Community Survey, an estimated 11.2 percent of county residents lack healthcare coverage.

Like other residents in the north central portion of North Carolina, Rockingham residents tend to pronounce words such as "out" and "about" the same as "oat" and "aboat". Attractions in Rockingham County include the state parks of the Dan and Mayo rivers, near Mayodan; the historic downtown areas of Leaksville, Draper and Spray in Eden; the Chinqua Penn Plantation in Reidsville; the Deep Springs Plantation in Stoneville,
High Rock Farm in Williamsburg, Mulberry Island Plantation in Stoneville, and the historic Penn House, located in Reidsville. One of the most famous attractions of the Reidsville area is Lake Reidsville. Various historic shops are found in the county, as well. The Museum & Archives of Rockingham County (the MARC) is the only county historical museum and is located in the Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, the county seat since 1787. The museum features exhibits and artifacts related to Rockingham County history as well as including the restored historic 1816 Wright Tavern (also historically known as Reid House or Reid Hotel) opposite the museum and 1910 Old Jail next door. In the early 20th century, Rockingham's mill workers produced a substantial amount of old time music. Hunting has long been popular in the county.