Hoke County, North Carolina
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox U.S. county
Hoke County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 52,082.<ref name="2020CensusQuickFacts"/> Its county seat is Raeford.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref>
The county is home to part of the Fort Bragg military reservation.
History
[edit]Early history
[edit]The original inhabitants of the region eventually constituting Hoke County were Tuscarora Native Americans.Template:Sfn Ancestors of the Lumbee Native Americans lived in the area in the early 1700s.Template:Sfn European settlers began establishing church congregations in the area in the mid-to-late 1700s.Template:Sfn The area was later placed under the jurisdiction of Cumberland and Robeson counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina.<ref name= vocci/> The community of Raeford was formed in the 1890s and incorporated in 1901. In 1899, the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad became the first rail line laid through the area.Template:Sfn
Creation
[edit]
In the early 1900s, some residents in the far reaches of Cumberland and Robeson began lobbying for the creation of a new county, complaining of long and dangerous travel to their county courthouses.<ref name= locke/> In 1907 and 1909 there were unsuccessful efforts to lobby the state government led by State Senator J. W. McLauchlin to create a new "Glenn County" out of portions of Cumberland and Robeson.<ref name= locke>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn In 1911 a third attempt was made and conjoined with an effort to name a county in honor of Robert F. Hoke, a Confederate general in the American Civil War and railroad executive.<ref name= vocci>Template:Cite web</ref>
On February 14, 1911, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to create the new Hoke County<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> effective April 1 of that year, with its first government to be appointed by the governor of North Carolina pending the holding of an election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Raeford was designated the county seat,<ref name= vocci/> and local officials served out of rented office space until a county courthouse was erected the following year.Template:Sfn At the time of its creation, Hoke County comprised about 268,000 acres of land. It had no paved roads and its economy was rooted in agriculture. Its approximately 10,000 residents were mostly white descendants of Scottish Highlanders and African Americans.Template:Sfn
Development
[edit]About 400 Hoke County residents served in the U.S. Army during World War I.Template:Sfn Between 1918 and 1923, the American federal government acquired 92,000 acres of land in the county as part of its efforts to expand Camp Bragg into Fort Bragg.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> leaving about 150,000 acres leftover.Template:Sfn Over 160 Hoke residents served in the armed forces during World War II.Template:Sfn After the war, the county's Lumbee population increased.Template:Sfn An effort by the U.S. Army to acquire a further 49,000 acres in the county in 1952 for Fort Bragg was abandoned after intense lobbying by local residents. In 1958, Little River Township, a section of north Hoke which was cut off from the rest of the county due to the presence of the Fort Bragg Military Reservation, was moved into the jurisdiction of Moore County.Template:Sfn Public schools, which had been originally racially segregated for whites, blacks, and Native Americans, were integrated in the 1960s.Template:Sfn
Geography
[edit]Template:Maplink According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert (0.39%) are covered by water.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is bordered by Moore, Cumberland, Robeson, Scotland, and Richmond counties.<ref name= censusprofile>Template:Cite web</ref> Hoke lies within North Carolina's Sandhills region and Coastal Plain region. It contains several Carolina bays.Template:Sfn It drains into the Lumber River basin and Cape Fear River basin.Template:Sfn Longleaf pine is native to the region.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
State and local protected areas
[edit]- Calloway Forest Preserve<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Hoke Community Forest<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Lumber River State Park (part)
- Nicholson Creek Game Land<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Rockfish Creek Game Land<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Sandhills Game Land (part)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Major water bodies
[edit]- Big Marsh Swamp<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Buffalo Creek<ref name=watson>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Drowning Creek
- Gum Swamp<ref name=":0"/>
- Little Raft Swamp<ref name=":0"/>
- Little River
- Little Rockfish Creek<ref name=":0"/>
- Little Rockfish Lake<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Lumber River
- MacArthur Lake<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Mountain Creek<ref name=":0"/>
- Quewhiffle Creek<ref name=":0"/>
- Raft Swamp<ref name=":0"/>
- Rockfish Creek
Demographics
[edit]2020 census
[edit]| Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref> | Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> | Template:Partial<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> | % 2000 | % 2010 | Template:Partial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 13,988 | 19,142 | 19,667 | 41.57% | 40.77% | 37.76% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 12,536 | 15,392 | 16,385 | 37.26% | 32.78% | 31.46% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 3,797 | 4,313 | 3,803 | 11.29% | 9.19% | 7.30% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 273 | 467 | 716 | 0.81% | 0.99% | 1.37% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 38 | 88 | 189 | 0.11% | 0.19% | 0.36% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 55 | 88 | 336 | 0.16% | 0.19% | 0.65% |
| Multiracial (NH) | 544 | 1,639 | 3,299 | 1.62% | 3.49% | 6.33% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2,415 | 5,823 | 7,687 | 7.18% | 12.40% | 14.76% |
| Total | 33,646 | 46,952 | 52,082 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
As of the 2020 census, 52,082 people were residing in Hoke County, with Raeford recorded as the largest community.<ref name= johnson1/> It is a majority-minority county;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in the 2020 census, 40.4% of the community racially identified as White, 32.2% percent as Black, 7.0% as Native American, 1.4% as Asian, and 0.4% as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. About 14.8% identified as Hispanic or Latino of any race.<ref name= johnson1/> Hoke County is part of the Fayetteville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.<ref name= johnson1/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hoke County's population has risen in recent decades, largely driven by expansions of Fort Bragg.<ref name=ecdev>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name= barnes1/> Between 1990 and 2000, the county's population expanded by 47%.<ref name= TBJ1>Template:Cite news</ref> From 2000 to 2010, the population grew from about 34,000 to over 45,000 residents.Template:Sfn Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, the county grew by 17.8%, adding 5,130 residents. Proportionately, the White population shrank by 4.9%, while the Hispanic/Latino population expanded by 2.4%.<ref name= johnson1>Template:Cite news</ref> From 2020 to 2021, the population rose faster than the average state rate of demographic growth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Law and government
[edit]Government
[edit]Hoke County's government is seated in Raeford<ref name= vocci/> and led by a five-person county commission.<ref name= rash>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hoke County is a member of the Lumber River Council of Governments, a regional planning board representing five counties.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The county also has its own soil and water conservation district, led by two elected supervisors.<ref name= shepard1/> The northern third of the county is a part of the Fort Bragg Military Reservation.<ref name= vocci/> It is located in the North Carolina Senate's 24th district, and the North Carolina House of Representatives' 48th district.<ref name= shepard1>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoke is one of the four counties within the jurisdiction of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and tribal members within the county elect some members of the tribal council.Template:Sfn
Judicial system
[edit]Hoke County lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 29th Prosecutorial District, the 19D Superior Court District, and the 19D District Court District.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> County voters elect a county sheriff and a clerk of superior court.<ref name= shepard1/>
Politics
[edit]Hoke County is politically dominated by the Democratic Party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 2024 elections, Hoke County voters narrowly favored Democratic candidates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Economy
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Hoke County's economy was originally rooted in the lumber and turpentine industries, and over the course of the 20th century expanded to cover the cultivation of cotton and grain crops and eventually the rearing of livestock.Template:Sfn Poultry production and processing in particular grew after World War II.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The county has experienced economic growth in recent decades due to its proximity to Fort Bragg.<ref name= barnes1>Template:Cite news</ref> Poultry production remains a key part of the local economy.<ref name=ecdev/>
Transportation
[edit]County government supports a public transport bus service, the Hoke Area Transit Service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Local rail transport is provided by the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad.<ref name=ecdev/>
Major highways
[edit]- Template:Jct
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Education
[edit]Most of the county is under the public educational jurisdiction of Hoke County Schools,<ref name= districtmap/> which is governed by an elected school board.<ref name= shepard1/> A partnership with Sandhills Community College and the county created the SandHoke Early College program, which uses the community college as well as multiple middle and high schools in the county.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sections in Fort Bragg are served by schools in the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA),<ref name= districtmap>Template:Cite web - Text list - "Fort Bragg Schools" refers to the DoDEA schools.</ref> for grades K-8. High school-level students living on Fort Bragg attend the local public high schools operated by the respective county they live in.<ref name=FortBraggSchools>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the 2021 American Community Survey, an estimated 19.8 percent of county residents have attained a bachelor's degree or higher level of education.<ref name= censusprofile/>
Healthcare
[edit]Hoke County is served by two hospitals,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Hoke Hospital and the Hoke Campus of Moore Regional Hospital, both located in the eastern half of the county.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> County government supports a public health department, which experienced an expanding caseload between the 2010s and early 2020s due to Hoke's demographic growth.<ref name= TBJ1/>
Culture
[edit]In 1984, the county began hosting an annual festival, the Hoke Heritage Hobnob.<ref name= vocci/> Over time, this transformed into the North Carolina Turkey Festival and then the North Carolina Fall Festival, which celebrates turkey production in the state.<ref name= vocci/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Several area buildings and sites have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Communities
[edit]
City
[edit]- Raeford (county seat and largest community)<ref name= johnson1/>
Census-designated places
[edit]- Ashley Heights
- Bowmore
- Dundarrach<ref name= vocci/>
- Five Points
- Rockfish
- Silver City
Townships
[edit]Hoke County townships include:Template:Sfn Template:Div col
- Allendale
- Antioch
- Blue Springs
- McLauchlin
- Raeford
- Quewhiffle
- Stonewall
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Works cited
[edit]External links
[edit]Template:Geographic location Template:Hoke County, North Carolina Template:North Carolina Template:Authority control