Date Died: 1783

Place Buried: Prospect Hill, Orange County

Occupation: Doctor, Lawyer

Thomas Burke, born about 1747 in Galway, Ireland, moved to Orange County in North Carolina about 1770 from Virginia. He was elected governor in 1781. On September 12 of that year, Burke, his Council, and over seventy-one Continental soldiers were captured by Tory Colonel David Fanning at Hillsboro. In October, he was transferred to Charleston and confined on Sullivan's Island. After having his appeals for release refused, Burke escaped and returned to North Carolina.

He was so disturbed to find himself criticized for violating his parole and taking office again that he retired to his plantation, Tyaquin, near Hillsborough. His grave is located off of Route 57, north of Hillsborough off of the Gov. Burke Road. The gravesite is in a cowpasture approximately fifty yards from a farm road on private property. The Dan River Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution clean the grave yearly.

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