[5] Some of the first European settlers of what would become the county were English Quakers, who settled along the Haw and Eno rivers.

It had been named in 1758 for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, who served as British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1768 and opposed harsh colonial policies.

Hearing of their fate, Loyalist leader Colonel David Fanning and his men encircled Chatham Courthouse and took 53 prisoners including Colonel Ambrose Ramsey, some local militia, and three members of the North Carolina General Assembly.

[7] While not devoted to large plantations, the county was developed for small farms, where slave labor was integral to the owners' productivity and success.

From the late 1860s secret terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, Constitutional Union Guard, and White Brotherhood were active against blacks in the county.

Henry Jones was lynched on January 12, 1899, after being accused of raping and murdering Nancy Welch/Welsh, a white widow in Chatham County.

The sixth person to be lynched was Eugene Daniel who was hanged and then had his body riddled with bullets on September 18, 1921.

[10][11] There was a notorious mass lynching of four African Americans on September 29, 1885, who were taken from the county jail in Pittsboro by a disguised mob at 1 am.

The mob of 50–100 people hanged and killed Jerry Finch, his wife Harriet, and Lee Tyson, arrested for a robbery/murder.

The communities of Carbonton and Cumnock (formerly called Egypt in Lee County) developed with the coal mining industry.

[17][18] The county was long dependent on agriculture as the basis of the economy, and there were numerous subsistence farmers in historic times.

As a result, settlers held fewer slaves than in some areas of the state, but by 1860 enslaved African Americans constituted about one-third of the county population.

Shakori Hills is also the location of the Hoppin John Fiddlers Convention and Mountain Aid benefit concert.

The Boren Clay Products Pit just north of Gulf in extreme southern Chatham County is a place where Triassic flora fossils persist.

[22] In addition to those mentioned below, the communities of Pittsboro, Siler City, and Goldston operate parks and other recreation facilities.

A census tract within the county containing two affluent retirement communities had the highest average lifespan in the United States—97.5 years—according to data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics.

In 2007, residents opposed to industrialization successfully blocked a similar quarry from being developed in the western part of the county.

[43][44] By the end of 2024, the new Wolfspeed factory will begin production of silicon carbide wafers for computer chips, which will create up to 1,800 new jobs.

[43] Chatham County contributes funds to, but does not govern, K-12 public education and the community college system.

The school moved into a new fully equipped building on 160 Woodland Grove Lane outside Pittsboro in August 2008.

Central Carolina Community College, which has two campuses in the county, is governed by its own appointed Board of Trustees.

Chatham County has managed to retain its rural character in part because it is not served by an Interstate Highway.

However, Chatham County plays an important role in regional transportation due to its close proximity to the geographic center of North Carolina and to major cities such as Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro.

Though driving is the dominant mode due to the county's rural nature, residents enjoy a number of transportation options.

[46] The main east–west artery serving Chatham County is U.S. 64, which provides access to Siler City and Pittsboro.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the NCDOT invested more than one hundred million dollars upgrading U.S. 64, U.S. 421 and U.S. 15–501, which had previously been two-lane roads, to multi-lane highways.

There is now a U.S. 64 bypass north of Pittsboro; a similar freeway diverts traffic on U.S. 421 east of Siler City.

CTN's fixed route provides weekday service between Siler City, Pittsboro and Chapel Hill.

[48] Norfolk Southern serves Siler City, Bonlee, Bear Creek, and Goldston as a part of a spur line that runs between Greensboro and Sanford.

UNC Health runs Chatham Hospital in Siler City and several other specialized clinics in the county.