Our Community

Laurinburg sits in the Sandhills region of south-central North Carolina, close to the South Carolina line. It is centrally located about 2 hours east of Charlotte, 2 hours south of the Raleigh/Durham metro region, and about 2 hours to the Atlantic coast. It's the seat of Scotland County, the fourth youngest of North Carolina's 100 counties and one shaped by a distinctly Scottish heritage that still colors its identity today.

The story of this place begins well before the county itself existed. The land was first home to the Cheraw people, and was later settled by Highland Scots and English colonists, with groups of English Quakers also arriving during the eighteenth century. The town that would become Laurinburg traces its roots to around 1785, when the first families settled the town site, and its name comes from the prominent McLaurin family among those early Scottish settlers. Laurinburg was formally incorporated in 1877.

Scotland County came later. It was carved out of Richmond County in 1899, largely for political reasons, and named in honor of the Scottish settlers who had shaped the region since the 1700s. Laurinburg was named the new county's seat in 1900, and the first courthouse went up the following year. That same era saw significant civic growth in the area, including institutions built by and for the local Black community, such as the school that would later become Laurinburg Academy.

Today, Scotland County covers roughly 320 square miles of the Coastal Plain and is home to around 33,000 people, with Laurinburg as its largest community and commercial center. The Lumber River winds through the county alongside smaller waterways like Shoe Heel and Jordan Creeks, and the local economy still draws on agriculture — cotton, corn, soybeans, tobacco, and hogs — alongside manufacturing in textiles, apparel, and other goods.

The Scottish thread running through the county's history is far from just a historical footnote — it's still visible and celebrated. The county hosts events that keep that heritage alive for residents and visitors alike, from Highland Games to seasonal festivals. Laurinburg is also home to the Indian Museum of the Carolinas, along with historic landmarks such as the Richmond Temperance and Literary Society Hall and the Jesse Mason House.

For a community its size, Laurinburg carries a notable density of history — a courthouse square, a historic downtown, church congregations (including our own) that stretch back generations, and neighborhoods that have watched the town grow from a rural crossroads into a small but resilient regional hub. It's a place where families have often lived for generations, where Sunday mornings still draw people to churches across town, and where the past is woven into daily life rather than tucked away in a museum.