User:Sbirdsong/sandbox/wikitext

= Cary, North Carolina =

Settlement and the Early Years
In 1749, Francis Jones received a 640 - acre land grant along Crabtree Creek in what is now Cary. Though the area was largely unsettled at the time of the grant, it had the advantage of being well-situated on the main road between New Bern and Hillsborough, two of North Carolina’s largest colonial towns, so settlers began arriving soon thereafter. In 1771, this area became part of the new Wake County, named for Royal Governor William Tryon’s wife, Margaret Wake Tryon. The area was primarily populated by small subsistence farmers at this time. The first business in Cary was Bradford’s Ordinary, an inn operated by the ‘colorful’ John Bradford and established sometime between 1760 and 1794. Thus early references to Cary sometimes call the settlement ‘Bradford’s Ordinary.'

Newspapers

 * Cary News
 * News and Observer