Hoke County Courthouse - District#16A

Hoke County is a member of the regional Lumber River Council of Governments. Raeford is the county seat of Hoke County. The population was 3,386 at the 2000 census.The county was named after Confederate General Robert F. Hoke. John McRae and A.A. Williford operated a turpentine distillery and general store respectively. Each took a syllable from his name and came up with the name Raeford for the post office they established. The MacRae family who lived at the 'ford of the creek' was at one time made up primarily of old Highland Scot families. Likewise, the Upper Cape Fear Valley of North Carolina was in the 18th and 19th Century the largest settlement of Gaelic speaking Highland Scots in North America.

Today many of these old families continue to live in the area, though their presence is noticeably diminished by the great numbers of newcomers to the area as a result of Fort Bragg. Since World War II many Lumbee Indian families have moved northward from Robeson County and now constitute a significant element of the population that is otherwise European and African-American.