Pittsboro is a town in Chatham County, North Carolina, United States.

In the years leading up to the American Civil War, the economy was dominated by small-scale farms that relied heavily on enslaved labor.

Industrialization came to the community in the late 19th century, as a number of rivers cross the area providing locations for mills and factories.

Pittsboro was once considered as a site for both the University of North Carolina and the state capital.

As the county seat, Pittsboro has been a center of trade and local government, including the courts.

[8] Pittsboro was the scene of a notorious mass lynching of four African Americans in 1885, including a woman.

A masked mob took Jerry Finch, his wife Harriet, and Lee Tyson from jail, where they were being held after arrest as suspects in a robbery/murder case.

[10] A white mob broke into the Pittsboro jail and seized a 16-year-old boy, Eugene Daniel.

In 2019, a statue erected in 1907 of a Confederate soldier outside the Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro was taken down.

On March 25, 2010, the Chatham County Courthouse, while undergoing a $415,000 exterior renovation, caught fire.

It was reported that the fire had destroyed all the computers and records, but there were offsite copies and the information was recoverable.

Serving Pittsboro's 4,000 residents, the department comprises 8 patrolmen, 1 community police officer, 1 lead investigator and 1 lieutenant.

[20] The town is served by five local schools and a Central Carolina Community College campus: Pittsboro is located east of the center of Chatham County.

Highways 15 and 501 run concurrently through the center of the town as Hillsboro Street and Sanford Road, leading north 17 miles (27 km) to the center of Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina, and south 17 miles (27 km) to Sanford.

North Carolina Highway 87 leads northwest from Pittsboro 32 miles (51 km) to Burlington.

Near the geographic center of the state, Pittsboro is 150 miles (240 km) from Wilmington at the coast and the same distance from Boone in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Jordan Lake is 8 miles (13 km) east, providing recreation, fishing, boating and scenic panoramas.

The lake is 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) of surface and provides water for Raleigh and the towns of Cary and Apex.

Once home to textiles, the largest clothing label mill in the world, and poultry, the town now depends on commuter income, retail stores and a developing business in genetics.

Housing developments provide relief from loss of industry as the town adjusts to a new economy.