New Hope Valley Railway

Bonsal is an unincorporated community in the New Hill, North Carolina postal district, in extreme southwestern Wake County, North Carolina, United States. Bonsal was a railroad junction between the Durham & South Carolina Railroad (D&SC) (originally chartered as the New Hope Valley Railroad) and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (originally the Raleigh and Augusta Air Line Railroad). The New Hope Valley Railroad route was abandoned in the late 1970s. The original name of the community was Godsey after the Godsey Farm in the area, but this was changed to Bonsal in 1905 after William Roscoe Bonsal, builder and first President of the Durham & South Carolina Railroad (see below). The community was briefly incorporated from 1907 to 1917 to allow the citizens to vote in favor of bills supporting temperance and prohibition. The town charter was revoked in 1917 when the citizens, having accomplished their purpose for being incorporated at all, refused to pay town taxes. Bonsal is now the site of the North Carolina Railway Museum (NCRM) and the operating New Hope Valley Railway (NHVRy) tourist line. The line owns approximately 6 miles of track between Bonsal and New Hill, North Carolina, operating for passengers on the first Sunday of each month from May to November and both Saturday and Sunday the first two weekends in December. Other special event trains are operated at other times throughout the year. The railway north of New Hill, North Carolina has been converted into the American Tobacco Trail.

The Harris Nuclear Plant is a nuclear power plant with a single Westinghouse designed pressurized-water nuclear reactor operated by Duke Energy. It was named in honor of W. Shearon Harris, former president of Carolina Power & Light (predecessor of Progress Energy Inc.). Located in New Hill, North Carolina, in the United States, about 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Raleigh, it generates 900 MWe, has a 523-foot (160 m) natural draft cooling tower, and uses Harris Lake for cooling. The reactor achieved criticality in January 1987 and began providing power commercially on May 2 of that year. The Shearon Harris site was originally designed for four reactors (and still has the space available for them), but only one was built. The final cost approached $3.9B, including safety upgrades mandated after the Three Mile Island accident. On November 16, 2006, the operator applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a renewal and extension of the plant's operating license. The NRC granted the renewal on December 17, 2008, extending the license from forty years to sixty.

Buckhorn Township (also designated Township 3) is one of twenty townships within Wake County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, Buckhorn Township had a population of 3,251.Buckhorn Township, occupying 39.3 square miles (101.8 km2) in southwestern Wake County, includes small portions of the towns of Apex and Holly Springs.

The New Hill Historic District is a national historic district located at New Hill, North Carolina, an unincorporated community in southwestern Wake County. The district encompasses the commercial and residential center and includes 2,820 acres (11.4 km2), 59 buildings, and one structure. The district developed between about 1860 and 1950, and includes notable examples of Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival style architecture. Notable buildings include the W. T. Roundy commercial complex, C.J. Bright's general merchandise store or New Hill Emporium, W. T. Roundy House (c. 1928), Duncan Lashley House (c. 1860), John Bright House (c. 1912), New Hill Baptist Church (c. 1888), Glass-Gardner House (c. 1890), and several farm complexes.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

North Carolina's 4th congressional district is located in the central region of the state. The district includes all of Alamance County, Durham County, Granville County, Orange County, and Person County, as well as a portion of Caswell County. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+16, it is the most Democratic district in North Carolina.Until 2023, the district was represented by 11-term Congressman David Price, a former political science professor at Duke who was first elected in 1986, ousting one-term Republican incumbent Bill Cobey. Price was reelected in 1988, 1990, and 1992, but he was defeated in his bid for a fifth term in 1994 by Republican Fred Heineman, the Raleigh Police Chief, in a generally bad year for Democrats in North Carolina. Price came back to defeat Heineman in a rematch in 1996, and has been reelected each time since then by large margins, usually with more than 60% of the vote. In 2020, Price received 67% of the votes (332,421 votes) to defeat Republican challenger Robert Thomas, who received 33% (161,298 votes).Before court mandated redistricting in 2016, according to research by Christopher Ingraham of The Washington Post, the district was the third most gerrymandered Congressional district in North Carolina and seventh most gerrymandered district in the United States. In contrast, its predecessor was the most regularly drawn of the state's 13 districts. The fourth district is currently represented by Valerie Foushee.

New Hill is an unincorporated community located in southwestern Wake County, North Carolina, United States, at the crossroads of old U.S. 1 (State Road 1011, running northeast–southwest), New Hill Olive Chapel Road (running north) and New Hill Holleman Road (running south). New Hill is located along the original alignment of the New Hope Valley Railway between Durham and Bonsal. The ZIP Code for New Hill is 27562.The community is near the southern terminus of the American Tobacco Trail. It is also the location of Duke Energy Progress's Shearon Harris nuclear power plant and the associated Harris Lake recreation center. A regional wastewater reclamation project has been completed in the area. The project was opposed by local residents who believed that placing the facility in the middle of their community would adversely impact their way of life. A settlement was reached in early 2011 between the towns building the plant and the New Hill community.The Samuel Bartley Holleman House and New Hill Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Cape Fear Township, population 1,323, is one of thirteen townships in Chatham County, North Carolina. Cape Fear Township is 54.26 square miles (140.5 km2) in size and located in southeast Chatham County. Cape Fear Township does not contain any municipalities within it, but does contain Moncure, a census designated place.

Goodwin Farm Complex is a historic home and farm located near Bells, Chatham County, North Carolina. The complex was established during the period 1850–1860. The main house consists of the original combined log cabin and detached kitchen in a one-story triple-A frame house, with a two-story section added about 1900. Also on the property are late-19th century agricultural outbuildings.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Calvin Wray Lawrence House is a historic home located near Apex, Wake County, North Carolina. The house was built about 1890, and is a two-story, three-bay, single-pile frame I-house with a central hall plan. It has a triple-A-roof; full-width, hip-roof front porch; and a two-story addition and two-story gabled rear ell. Also on the property are the contributing well house, outhouse, and storage barn.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Harris Lake, or Shearon Harris Reservoir, is a reservoir in New Hill, North Carolina. The lake covers 4,100 acres (17 km2) in southwestern Wake County and southeastern Chatham County, located 220 feet above sea level. It is the source and outlet of cooling water for the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant. The lake is adjacent but not connected to B. Everett Jordan Lake. It was created by impounding Buckhorn Creek. There are two public boat ramps; one is near the southern end off North Carolina Highway 42, and the other near the northern end by Avent Ferry Road. Harris Lake County Park is located on the northeastern section of the lake. The park was leased to Wake County by Duke Energy in 1985, and opened to the public in 1999. The 680-acre park features five miles of hiking trails, almost eight miles of bike trails, and other amenities including picnic areas, a fishing pier, and a disc golf course. The park is home to several historic sites from an agricultural community, including the remains of the Womble, Smith, and Holleman households. The park also protects valuable Longleaf Pine forests.

Ebenezer Methodist Church is a historic church located near Bells, Chatham County, North Carolina. It is located on the west side of SR 1008, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of its junction with SR 1975. It is a modest single-story wood-frame structure, with a steeply-pitched metal gable roof and weatherboard siding. It has Gothic Revival features, including a tower with Gothic-arched entrance openings. The sanctuary's windows, doors, and interior woodworking are original to the structure. It was built about 1890, for a Methodist congregation established in 1827.The building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Apex Friendship High School, often referred to as AFHS, is a public high school located in the southwestern corner of Apex, North Carolina near the small community of Friendship, North Carolina. The school was founded in 2015 and is part of the Wake County Public School System.