Governor William Woods Holden Bicentennial

On Sunday, December 16, a program will be held at the Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough to commemorate the bicentennial of Governor William Woods Holden’s birth in 1818.  Holden was born near Hillsborough and served as North Carolina’s governor at the end of the Civil War and during the early stages of the Reconstruction Era.

Eddie Davis, the public historian for the City of Durham, is coordinating Sunday’s program. Most of Durham was a part of Orange County until 1881. According to Davis, “The Sunday, December 16^th program will discuss the evolution of the Holden Legacy over a 200-year period.”  Davis continued, “Because of his steadfast action to keep the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups from denying the rights of North Carolina’s newly-emancipated population of African-Americans, Governor Holden became the first governor of a state to be impeached, convicted, and removed from office.”

In 2011, the NC Senate, including former Senator Eleanor Kinnaird, officially pardoned Governor Holden.   The NC House has not yet taken the same action to pardon this strong Orange County native.  The program will be held from 3:00 PM until 4:30 PM.  The library is located at 137 W. Margaret Lane in Hillsborough.  The program is free and open to the public.