Oak Ridge, North Carolina can trace its roots back to 1767, when Daniel Dillon was granted 552 acres on Reedy Fork and Beaver Creek by The Earl of Granville. Daniel built a small tub mill and went into business grinding grain for early settlers. The mill has been in continuous use ever since. Located on Highway 68, the mill produces all natural corn meals and grits, along with a wide range of mixes, all of which are for sale in The Old Mill's charming store.
After the Revolutionary War, life returned to normal for this early settlement. In 1852 what is now Oak Ridge Military Academy was established as Oak Ridge Institute, a finishing school for boys, ironically by peace-loving Quakers. The school was later called Oak Ridge Male Institute, considered (at that time) to be one of the best private schools in North Carolina, boasting business and humanities departments, literary and debating societies, and sports teams. The Principal at the time, Professor J. Allen Holt described the Institute as finely wooded and well watered with the finest freestone water, and commanding an extensive view of mountain ranges and foothills. The Blue Ridge, the Pilot, Saurtown, Moore's Knob, the Pinnacles of Dan, all loom up within a range of fifty miles. The fine oak groves and natural shaded lawns make it an ideal place for a residence. With affectionate pride he concluded: It has been called God's Country.
Despite the school's name (Oak Ridge Male Institute) women were admitted as students during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1929, Oak Ridge officially became an all-male military secondary school. From 1929 to 1967, Oak Ridge was a junior college as well as a military school. In 1972, Oak Ridge became the first military high school to admit female cadets. Oak Ridge Military Academy is currently the third-oldest military school still in operation today. During the time Oak Ridge Institute/Military Academy was evolving, a small thriving agricultural community was developing around it. With a post office, general store, meeting house and residences for the faculty. The community of Oak Ridge had become a charming, thriving American small town surrounded by fertile farmland.
Early in 1945 a group of Oak Ridge men seated around the warm potbellied stove in Linville's Store came up with the idea of a horse show, to raise money for the Oak Ridge Methodist Church's building fund. The Oak Ridge Horse Show debuted Easter 1945 with an entry list of seventeen classes of draft and saddle horses, mules, ponies and goat rigs. In its sixty-two year history it has grown to nearly 200 classes of hunters, quarter horses, draft horses, mules, donkeys, English, Western and driving. The show today is a massive community effort, with the net proceeds today divided equally between the Oak Ridge Fire Department, the Oak Ridge Ladies Fire Auxiliary, and the Oak Ridge Community Center. This world-class horse show has produced hundreds of thousands of dollars for everything from the local schools to little league and boy scouts.
Until the late 1990's, Oak Ridge was mostly rural farmland, with numerous tobacco, strawberry and horse farms. Since its incorporation as a town in 1998, Oak Ridge has undergone a rapid but well planned suburbanization and population growth. Today, Oak Ridge is a very welcoming Southern community, considered to be a wealthy suburb of nearby Greensboro, North Carolina's third-largest city. Conveniently located near the Triad International Airport and interstate highways 40/85, Oak Ridge will always be a very desirable community to call home.
