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Person County is a 20-mile by 20-mile square piece of real estate directly north
of Durham County, butted up against the Virginia state line. It was named after
Thomas Person, who served in various offices from sheriff and justice of the peace to
the state senate before he died in 1800.
The county seat is the Town of Roxboro, which was settled in the 1790s and named
for Roxburgh, Scotland. Like most of north central North Carolina, farming, especially
tobacco, served as the economic lifeblood of the area for decades. But more than most
areas on the rural fringes of the Research Triangle area, Person County and Roxboro
have made it their business to get a share of economic growth.
Times have indeed changed in Person County in the last 20 years.
Gleaming new industries line the main highways into Roxboro. The area has become a
popular bedroom community for many who work in the RTP in Durham County.
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