Broadway, NC

Broadway is a Lee County town of 1,267 residents in the 2020 census, just south of Sanford along the Lee-Harnett line. The name comes from a broad opening in the pine forest, and the first local economy centered on turpentine and lumber. The Atlantic and Western Railroad arrived around 1905–07, helping Broadway grow into a farming and trading community; a 1906 fire destroyed much of the early commercial area, so the town's present Main Street carries both railroad-era history and later rebuilding. Watson Lake and Broadway Town Park give the town its easiest outdoor reference point, while downtown events such as the Broadway Our Way festival keep the main street in use.

Farming remains part of the area's identity, even as Broadway sits close enough to Sanford for larger errands and regional connections. The local scoop is that Broadway's name sounds like a big-city street, but the place grew from pine trees, turpentine, a short-line railroad, and farm country. It is a small Lee County town whose layout and traditions still make sense when you start with the old depot-era crossroads.