The North Carolina Department of Commerce has named Chatham County’s town of Pittsboro a Certified Retirement Community, meaning that the county seat has been recognized as a popular retirement destination. It is only the fifth place in the state to receive this designation.

Pittsboro, about a half hour drive from Carolina Meadows, offers a number of attractions including fine restaurants, a nationally celebrated pottery, and an impressive woodcraft shop.

Carolina Meadows was one of the sponsors of the petition to obtain the coveted designation for Pittsboro. Other sponsors include Fearrington Village, UNC Health Care, and Chatham Hospital. In light of the designation, a committee has been formed to market Pittsboro nationally as a desirable place to retire. Fuller information about Pittsboro and the other certified communities in the state can be found at www.visitnc.com/retire.

A number of people who retire to the Pittsboro area — to Fearrington Village, for example — subsequently move to a Continuing Care Retirement Community. In fact, so many Carolina Meadows residents have come here from Fearrington that Carolina Meadows is sometimes jokingly referred to as “Fearrington North!”

By CM Resident, Bill Powers