![]() ![]() Today, the downtown is marked by art galleries, bookshops and locally-owned businesses, united by what WHUP President Bob Burtman called a “creative synergy.” Numerous writers and artists, too, have spent time in the town. Billy Strayhorn, who composed music for Duke Ellington’s jazz orchestra including such standards as “Take the ‘A’ Train,” grew up there with his grandmother. Hillsborough’s legacy is equally a cultural one. (These farmers, who called themselves the “Regulators,” have been immortalized by a certain bookshop in Durham.) Nearly one hundred years later, the area saw the largest surrender of Confederate troops to end the Civil War. The town was established in 1754, before American independence, and even then it was no stranger to action: a quarter mile from the center of town, a group of rebel farmers was hanged by colonial officials in 1771. No fewer than seven official historical markers dot the short walk up the hill on Churton St., giving a glimpse of the various movements that have impacted Hillsborough. Just north of the intersection of I-40 and I-85, a stretch of highway gives way to downtown Hillsborough, defined by the crossroads of Churton St. Indeed, years before Yep Roc opened its doors there, Hillsborough established itself as an improbable epicenter of history. “It’s just a lot of people trying to make something happen in a small town.” “Hillsborough’s always been a creative community,” Billy Maupin, general manager of Yep Roc, said. But these developments - which Yep Roc 20 helps to celebrate with an outdoor concert next Saturday at Hillsborough’s River Park - are the natural product of a community that has always been rich in creativity. As a town that spans 4.6 square miles and has a population of just over 6,000, Hillsborough makes an unlikely hotbed for music. ![]()
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