As change comes to Chatham County, Mayor Jonathan Hensley works to guide his hometown of Goldston through revitalization, infrastructure upgrades and business development – all without losing its small-town soul
As Told to Sharon Kinsella | Photo by John Michael Simpson
Jonathan Hensley is leading Goldston through a pivotal moment of change. Jonathan is a lifelong Chatham County resident; he was born in Siler City and moved to Goldston at age 2. Today, he remains committed to preserving the town’s tight-knit, family-centered identity while thoughtfully encouraging new businesses, revitalizing downtown and improving local amenities. Jonathan lives in Goldston with his wife, Ashley Hensley, who owns Goldston Beauty Barn, and manages his family’s restaurant, Rufus’ Restaurant, named for his grandfather. The former law enforcement officer brings a pragmatic, community-first approach to leadership as he helps shape Goldston’s future.
Goldston is on the verge of a transformation, with new development on the horizon. How do you see this evolution impacting the town’s economy, infrastructure and culture?* Goldston is going to change. There is no stopping change at all. Our goal is to keep Goldston the quiet, family-oriented town that it’s always been. We want coffee shops. We want bakeries. We want boutiques. We want bookstores. We just don’t want to be a massive city. The reason people love Goldston and they’re staying here is because we’re all family. Everybody knows everybody. And we don’t want to get rid of that small-town community. But, you can’t stop the growth coming.
Growth can bring both opportunities and challenges. How do you plan to balance reserving Goldston’s small-town charm while welcoming development? We aim for our core downtown to be more of a nice little weekend stop. But to do that, you have to have residents, and you have to have people [who] come into town to spend money. Our population is so small, [and] you can’t survive solely based on the 200 people [who] live in town. If [families] open up a coffee shop, and people are coming downtown, and they go, ‘Hey, let’s go to Goldston and go shop at the boutiques or go to the bookstore,’ then that puts money into the residents’ pockets and the families who open up stores. That is our goal: to keep Goldston quiet but still have influx in business.
What are your priorities for improving infrastructure, public services and local businesses in response to the expected growth? We recently [got] a website, which we’ve never had before. We’re going to make it a lot easier for people to fill out applications and forms and streamline everything that comes along with the town. We just have to make sure that we control the growth [in a way] that is in the best interest of the town and the residents. We have to play this balancing act of what the people want and what we can do with the revenue that comes with that. I have to make sure that, with this growth, I’m reinvesting that money back into the town [in a way] that benefits the [residents]: new park, new playground, new basketball courts, Wi-Fi throughout downtown, more [retail spaces] so that they can open up shops.
The cute little town is what we’re working on. It’s been a process the past couple years. I’m really working on trying to get the curb appeal up to a standard. I want the residents to be proud to say, ‘Well, I’m from Goldston.’ We just have some refining to do.
Goldston has a rich history and deep community ties. How do you plan to ensure that longtime residents feel included and heard during this period of change? Our meetings are the first Monday of each month, at 7 o’clock. They are open to the public, and we hear all of their voices. Some of the meetings run long because I engage and have conversations.
I don’t consider myself a politician; I don’t like using that word. I don’t like telling people that I’m the mayor, but I want to engage and have open dialogue with people. I think, especially in today’s society, people have a distrust for government officials, and I’m not like that. I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve been [with] the [Goldston Rural] Fire Department since I was 16. I was a cop in Chatham County for 15 years. [I’ve] worked [in] this area, so I am invested in Goldston, and I want people to know they can come talk to me at my grandma’s restaurant, about anything, all the time, and they do. I want them to know that their voices are heard, and I truly take all of their opinions and thoughts into heavy consideration.
Chatham County as a whole has seen rapid growth in places like Pittsboro. What lessons can Goldston learn from other towns in the county? Siler City and Pittsboro have done a very good job at their development and controlling that growth. Goldston has been out of sight, out of mind. But with the expansion of Siler City and all the big businesses coming people are looking to move away from that, because it’s more congested, to places like Goldston.
Change is necessary.… Our tax revenue base is so small that it’s almost impossible to make improvements. So we have to accept the change… so that we can make the improvements [we] want.
Watching how Pittsboro grew and Siler City grew so fast – it was great for them, but they have full-time employees. Goldston does not. We don’t have a town manager or anybody [who] works for the town. We are all essentially volunteers, even the board. We have to do all the work. What we are trying to do is control our growth at a pace that we can handle. We don’t want the growing pains.
I plan for five years down the road so we stay ahead of the game. That way, when things come up, we’re not experiencing those issues. I commend the board and the town managers [of] Siler City and Pittsboro. We just don’t want to be quite like them. We want to keep that ideal little picturesque town. Hometown America is how we’re trying to stay.
What role do you see local businesses playing in shaping Goldston’s future, and how can the town support them? I am very pro-small business, family owned. I want Goldston to have the coffee shops and the bakeries and the boutiques, but I don’t want a Wendy’s or Chick-fil-A on Main Street. The town fully supports any small business or anybody [who] has a small business idea.
We’re very interested in conversations with people [who] want to build businesses or properties or [places] of entertainment so we can get more small-town retail. Businesses bring in tax revenue and if a family can make money running a successful business in town, we are very supportive.
Do you have experience running businesses? No, I don’t. (laughs) I run my grandma’s restaurant now, but that’s only been for the past four years or so. Up until then, [I’d] never really run a business. I was an investigator, so I did major crime stuff. I have interacted with thousands of people from every spectrum, on every angle you could get. So I think I have a tendency to understand people better from being an investigator and my interview skills, I guess. But as far as running a business, I’ve just kind of figured this stuff out. I just wing it.
What inspired you to run for mayor, and what personal experiences do you bring to this role? I was asked by the previous mayor to be a commissioner, and I was like, ‘Sure, why not?’ I had zero interest in politics. Ever. [But] I got on the board because I saw the things that we could improve on, and I wanted to have a voice in the growth and the change that Goldston was getting ready to experience. Then when the previous mayor, Tim Cunnup, decided he was going to step down, he approached me, and he said, ‘We need younger vision, and I think you would be a good fit.’ I really did not know what I was stepping into. [I] had no idea how to run a town and be a mayor.
My opinions and my thoughts should not affect the residents, because I’m [only] one person. But the town is a business, and we have to look at it as a business. If we take all of our opinions out, and we are completely neutral, then we will make the best decisions for the town.
What successes have you had so far in your mayoral tenure? We have [internet] fiber that is about 90% done. Most of the residents already have it. We ran into some issues so the project’s taken a little bit longer than expected. Without the help of the county and Randolph [Communications], we would have never been able to do this project. Because we only have 200 residents, [we’re] not making that money back in the long run. So, I reached out to the county manager, and we were able to get a grant that allowed us to run fiber through the town. Residents love it. It’s been fantastic.
The park has always been a big area of attention because we are a huge baseball town. [It] needed some renovations. We are currently in the process of building a completely new playground that’s all Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. We’ve got new basketball courts [and] new tennis courts with pickleball courts. There are a lot of big improvements coming, because I feel that the residents deserve it. I take their concerns to heart. If I hear them say, ‘We want this,’ then, if it’s plausible, I will try to do that.
We have the old library from the original Goldston Elementary School. My goal in the 2026-27 fiscal year is to remodel that completely and bring it up to code, get it all ADA compliant, and turn it into a community center. If somebody wants to have a birthday party, they can rent it out, have a playground, have a nice little sitting area outside and then use the building inside for cakes and ice cream or whatever.
But our main goal in the next year is going to be some renovations to the park. We would like to purchase some land that touches the park. We’re aiming for [about] 17 acres, and we want to turn that into a sports complex – soccer fields, maybe more baseball fields, [a] volleyball court, additional parking. The property we’re looking at has a pond on it, so I want to turn that into a fishing area and put some paddle boats and canoes out there.
When you imagine Goldston 10 years from now, what do you see? [I imagine] a downtown full of nice landscaping, pretty stores, a coffee shop [and] a nice bakery. I think of small-town America, where people come and they shop local, and then they go, ‘This is a really cute little town.’ I read articles all the time about top cute towns in North Carolina, and I want our town to be like that. Hillsborough has a really nice downtown. Historic downtown Apex is nice. Those are much larger towns, so I’m trying to do that on a smaller scale. I want people [who] find their way off the beaten path and drive through Goldston and go, ‘Man, we should go back and go to that bakery.’ That is what I’m looking for.
How do you hope your time as mayor will shape Goldston’s future and be remembered by the community? What do you want your legacy to be? I don’t like to take credit for things. I’m just a guy that calls the meetings to order. My board and my commissioners [are] the ones who are really putting in the work. My goal is to make Goldston as enjoyable and pleasurable for the people [who] live here and have lived their entire lives and [for] future residents. But it doesn’t have to have my name on it.
*Responses have been edited for length and clarity
