Fayetteville (/ˈfeɪətvɪl, ˈfɛdvɪl/ FAY-ət-vil, FED-vil)[8] is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States.[9] It is best known as the home of Fort Liberty, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city.
Fayetteville has received the All-America City Award from the National Civic League three times. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 208,501,[5] It is the 6th-most populous city in North Carolina. Fayetteville is in the Sandhills in the western part of the Coastal Plain region, on the Cape Fear River.
With an estimated population of 392,336 in 2023, the Fayetteville metropolitan area is the second-most populous in southeastern North Carolina and 142th-most populous in the United States.[6] Suburban areas of metro Fayetteville include Fort Liberty, Hope Mills, Spring Lake, Raeford, Pope Field, Rockfish, Stedman, and Eastover.
The area of present-day Fayetteville was historically inhabited by various Siouan Native American peoples, such as the Eno, Shakori, Waccamaw, Keyauwee, and Cape Fear people. They followed successive cultures of other indigenous peoples in the area for more than 12,000 years.
After the violent upheavals of the Yamasee War and Tuscarora Wars during the second decade of the 18th century, the colonial government of North Carolina encouraged colonial settlement along the upper Cape Fear River, the only navigable waterway entirely within the colony. Two inland settlements, Cross Creek and Campbellton, were established by Scots from Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute, Scotland.
Merchants in Wilmington wanted a town on the Cape Fear River to secure trade with the frontier country. They were afraid people would use the Pee Dee River and transport their goods to Charleston, South Carolina. The merchants bought land from Newberry in Cross Creek. Campbellton became a place where poor whites and free blacks lived and gained a reputation for lawlessness.[10][11]
In 1783, Cross Creek and Campbellton united, and the new town was incorporated as Fayetteville in honor of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero who significantly aided the American forces during the war.[12] Fayetteville was the first city to be named in his honor in the United States.[12] Lafayette visited the city on March 4 and 5, 1825, during his grand tour of the United States.[12]
The local region was heavily settled by Scots in the mid/late 1700s, and most of these were Gaelic-speaking Highlanders. The vast majority of Highland Scots, recent immigrants, remained loyal to the British government and rallied to the call to arms from the Royal Governor. Despite this, they were eventually defeated by a larger Revolutionary force at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge. The area also included several active Revolutionaries.
In late June 1775, residents drew up the "Liberty Point Resolves," which preceded the Declaration of Independence by a little more than a year. It said,
"This obligation to continue in full force until a reconciliation shall take place between Great Britain and America, upon constitutional principles, an event we most ardently desire; and we will hold all those persons inimical to the liberty of the colonies, who shall refuse to subscribe to this Association; and we will in all things follow the advice of our General Committee respecting the purposes aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and the safety of individual and private property."
Robert Rowan, who apparently organized the group, signed first.
Robert Rowan (circa 1738–1798) was one of the area's leading public figures of the 18th century. A merchant and entrepreneur, he settled in Cross Creek in the 1760s. He served as an officer in the French and Indian War, as sheriff, justice and legislator, and as a leader of the Patriot cause in the Revolutionary War. Rowan Street and Rowan Park in Fayetteville and a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution are named for him, though Rowan County (founded in 1753) was named for his uncle, Matthew Rowan.
Flora MacDonald (1722–1790), a Scots Highland woman known for aiding Bonnie Prince Charlie after his Highlander army's defeat at Culloden in 1746, lived in North Carolina for about five years. She was a staunch Loyalist and aided her husband in raising the local Scots to fight for the King against the Revolution.
Seventy-First Township in western Cumberland County (now a part of Fayetteville) is named for a British regiment during the American Revolution – the 71st Regiment of Foot or "Fraser's Highlanders", as they were first called.
Fayetteville had what is sometimes called its "golden decade" during the 1780s. It was the site in 1789 for the state convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution, and for the General Assembly session that chartered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fayetteville lost out to the future city of Raleigh in the bid to become the permanent state capital.
In 1793, the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry formed and is still active as a ceremonial unit. It is the second-oldest militia unit in the country.
Henry Evans (circa 1760–1810), a free black preacher, is locally known as the "Father of Methodism" in the area. Evans was a shoemaker by trade and a licensed Methodist preacher. He met opposition from whites when he began preaching to enslaved people in Fayetteville, but he later attracted whites to his services. He is credited with building the first church in town, the African Meeting House, in 1796. Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church is named in his honor.
On March 4–5, 1825, General Lafayette visited his namesake town - the first one named for him and the only one he personally visited[13] as part of his 1824-1825 tour of all the states as "The Nation's Guest." Admirers stood in mud and pouring rain to welcome him. He was feted with a formal dinner, a ball, and multiple military displays.[14]
Fayetteville had 3,500 residents in 1820, but Cumberland County's population still ranked as the second most urban in the state, behind New Hanover County (Wilmington). Its "Great Fire" of 1831 was believed to be one of the worst in the nation's history, despite no deaths associated with the incident. Hundreds of homes, businesses, and most of the best-known public buildings were lost, including the old "State House". Fayetteville leaders moved quickly to help the victims and rebuild the town.[15]
There was no point in rebuilding the State House since the state government was firmly installed in Raleigh. On its site, the city built a Market House, recreating the city around it just as it had previously surrounded the State House. The new building had a covered area under which business could be conducted since every store in Fayetteville had been destroyed in the fire. Completed in 1832, it became the town's and county's administrative building. It was a town market until 1906 and served as Fayetteville Town Hall until 1907. Currently (2020), it is a local history museum.