Lee County

Lee County is brand new by North Carolina standards. There are residents of the county who can recall its birth in 1907. Although it is young as a political entity, the county is old in historical terms. Established in 1907 from portions of Moore and Chatham counties, Lee County, named for hero Robert E. Lee, is North Carolina's 98th county. The City of Sanford, named in honor of railroad engineer, Col. Charles Ogburn Sanford, is the county seat. Throughout its history, Lee County has made important contributions to the course of events and material development of its region, state, and nation. Lee County has a remarkable history and people who made the history happen: cotton and tobacco farmers, coal miners and stonecutters, schoolteachers, mill workers, storekeepers, and many others. Virtually every aspect of the county's history is tied in some way to local geography.

Lee County is located at the state's geographic center and sits astride the boundary between two geographic regions, the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain. At 255 square miles, it is one of the smallest counties in the state. Lee County is home to the Deep River Coal Field, the state's largest coal deposit, which extends from east to west along the county's northern edge and into Chatham County. The county's natural resources attracted Native Americans thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans and Africans. Unfortunately, little is known about the aboriginal groups who lived in the county's river bottoms and uplands. Along the Deep River are mysterious stone structures popularly believed to be Native American fish traps. Population has increased as Lee County has developed and grown. This increase in county residents has been due both to natural increase and the addition of out-of-state citizens relocating due to employment opportunities and retirement living.

Sanford

Sanford is also fortuitously located in the geographic heart of North Carolina, with convenient access to the amenities of the world-renowned Research Triangle to our north, and the equally renowned golf courses and resorts of Pinehurst and Southern Pines in the Sandhills to our south. While our moderate climate and four distinct seasons make life a pleasure year-round, for those who like even more variety, we're a mere two hours from the sunny shores of the Atlantic and just three hours from the pristine streams and evergreen forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sanford's mild climate and central location make it a prime retirement spot. Carolina Trace, ranked as one of the top 25 places to retire boasts an "Unhurried, Un-crowded, Uncommon" atmosphere. With two 18 hole championship golf courses, designed by architect Robert Trent Jones, swimming, tennis, and a 250 seat grand dining room all self-contained with a 24 hour security gate, you never have to go far from home to find exciting year-round recreation.