Believe it or not

Hillsborough has an incredible claim to have help create the USA!

This is Hillsborough Lake with the Parsh Church on the other side. Hillsborough Parish Church dates back to 1663. The church as you see it now was completed in 1773 by Wills Hills, the first Marquis of Downshire.. The village is said to be "the birthplace of the United States" – due to a disastrous meeting that took place between Benjamin Franklin and Lord Hillsborough (then the acting Secretary of State for the Colonies) in the early 1770s. They are reported to have hated each other at first sight and, on leaving three days into a week-long visit, Franklin returned home to convince the dissident colonists he represented that there was no alternative but to initiate immediate revolution. The 'Declaration of Independence' in July 1776 followed shortly after Franklin's return.