1780-1804

The county emerged from the Revolutionary War with some wounds to heal between the defeated Loyalist and victorious Patriot factions and with a lot of growth in the works. Fayetteville, the newly named county seat, was becoming a town of substance and distinction.

The county, at the headwaters of navigation on the Cape Fear River, developed further as an inland hub for agriculture and trade, with several roads, ferries, bridges and warehouses built during the late 1700s and early 1800s.

As a sign of its role as a center of travel and hospitality, Cumberland had 13 taverns or inns licensed to operate during the period of 1788-90.

Fayetteville experienced what is sometimes called its "golden decade" during the 1780s. It played host, in 1789, to the convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution and to the General Assembly session that chartered the University of North Carolina.

The county had a new courthouse, and Fayetteville also had the new "State House," a building designed to encourage the location of the permanent state capital in the town.

But Fayetteville lost out to the future city of Raleigh in this bid.

New streets

Fayetteville developed nicely with the creation of a new street plan in 1783, with four of the major thoroughfares named for the commissioners who approved the plan - John Hay, at the time a Sampson County lawyer; state Sen. Ambrose Ramsey of Chatham County; and two members of the House of Commons, Thomas Person of Granville County and James Gillespie of Duplin.

The community made advances in education with the creation of the Fayetteville Academy, in the 1790s.

In 1800, the school had 130 students, boys and girls. It was led by a series of Presbyterian ministers.

Politically, Cumberland County was a Federalist stronghold for years. But the Jeffersonian contingent grew, leading to more diversity in local elections.

Charles Catton Jr. painted this picture of John Newberry's mill in 1816. Newberry established the mill in 1755. The painting is in the New York Public Library.