Pittsboro

Pittsboro is a town of 4,300 people (2018) near the Haw River in the Research Triangle in North Carolina. The county seat of Chatham County, Pittsboro has a big cat sanctuary as well as a historic district centered around the 19th-century courthouse.

Get in
Driving is your best bet. Route 15-501 goes straight through downtown Pittsboro, and U.S. Route 64 goes close. Pittsboro is about halfway between Chapel Hill and Sanford.

By bike
Biking is also possible—Pittsboro is about 20 miles (30 km) from Chapel Hill. The most direct route from Chapel Hill is taking 15-501, but that's just a highway. A more scenic route takes you through rolling hills, green pastures, and quiet forests: Take Smith Level Road south, turn right on Damascus Church Road, then left on Meacham Road, which turns into Polythress Road. When the road ends at a T intersection, turn left to stay on Polythress Road, and take the next right onto Manns Chapel Road. Go left on Hamlets Chapel Road, which will take you to 15-501. Cross the highway to head into Bynum, or turn left to follow the highway for the last few miles to Pittsboro. This route is hilly and there are no bike lanes for most of it (the cars are polite enough to give you a wide berth, though), but the pastoral scenery is lovely. If you're a strong biker it's just feasible to do Pittsboro as a day trip from Chapel Hill by bike.

Haw River
Pittsboro is near the Haw River, and the has swimming, tubing, kayaking, canoeing, birdwatching, and wildlife photography. You might see people fishing, but eating the fish isn't recommended due to pollution.

If you're interested in wildlife, look for animals like river otters, turtles, toads, and herons, and native plants like horsetail, arrowleaf ginger, mountain laurel, and wild azalea.



Go next

 * Chapel Hill
 * Durham
 * Greensboro