Sorry it took me the weekend to get back – I was out enjoying the weather.
Earthworm Jim –
This was something that was said to sell me on the location. I think it would work better on someone who’s not coming from Seattle. (“Two whole hours to the mountains, huh? And two whole hours to the beach? Well, I suppose I won’t hold that against you.”)
Hypno-Toad –
I already did! some one brought this up in the interview as well – how big basketball is. I don’t give a rat’s ass about bucket-ball, though I suppose I can learn. I’m trying to cultivate a “when in Rome” attitude about the whole move.
I’ve been looking at Durham, Chapel Hill, and Carroboro, since Raleigh, Wake Forest, and Cary are on the wrong side of the Triange for me (in terms of where I would want to live to get to where I’ll be working). Frankly, I’ve been kind of surprised by the subtext of . . . well, not racism, so much as racial awareness. I’ve heard that Durham is not a great place to live, and the strongly implied reason is that there’s a lot of black folks there (ergo, poverty and unrest, etc.). Chapel Hill is extolled to the skies, but frankly it looks to me mostly like white-flight suburbia, and as a single woman, that is of zero interest to me. I’m sure there are cute and trendy areas to live in Chapel Hill, but I can’t afford them.
This was what I was initially thinking, but I’ve heard a lot of “Good Lord, don’t live there!” (In so many words.) I would love to live somewhere that’s racially diverse, a little eclectic, with a good sense of neighborhood, but don’t want to live somewhere where my property value will decrease or I’ll feel unsafe. So now I don’t know.
Thanks for all the descriptions; they’re very helful!
Durham has places you wouldn’t want to live, but it also has good parts. I know people who live in wonderful neighborhoods in Durham (diverse, great neighbors, affordable). Chapel Hill is insanely expensive (further from downtown is more affordable, but still not cheap). Carrboro is an interesting place, and housing is cheaper than Chapel Hill, but that probably won’t last long. It’s artsy, quirky, and becoming a very desirable place to live. Hillsborough is a small town that’s right off of 40 and 85, so depending on where you’re working, it might be a reasonable commute.
It would take too long to list all of the things to do and places to go. There’s lots of good music (I tend to do low-budget local music venues, like the Bynum General Store and the Pittsboro General Store, Latta House in Raleigh, and there’s a new music series at Shakori Hills, out in the country about 30 minutes from Chapel Hill). The Maple View Dairy is one of my favorite places (excellent ice cream). Weaver Street Market is a great place to hang out, and they also have music on Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings.
I’ve been here for almost ten years, and one of the reasons I’ve stayed so long is the climate. It does get hot in the summer, but it’s worth it for the gorgeous spring weather. I live for spring!
You’re coming from Seattle? Jodi, CARY is gonna be racially diverse, compared to Seattle. You can’t move somewhere less racially diverse than Seattle and still be in the Piedmont.
One major difference between the two is how quickly spring comes. When I lived in Olympia, it felt as if spring dribbled in over the course of two or three months. In Chapel Hill, you can almost hear the rushing sound as spring overtakes you: it literally goes from barren hillsides to full bloom in less than two weeks. It’s spectacular!
jodi, don’t let the naysayers scare you away from Durham. As MagicEyes pointed out, there are parts of Durham where you wouldn’t to live, but there are parts of any city where you wouldn’t want to live.
In defense of Chapel Hill, it truly is a beautiful town. As others have pointed out, it’s very walkable; there’s a lively cultural scene; there are many good reasons why people love living there. I’ve seen white-flight suburbia, and Chapel Hill isn’t it. (Although there are more and more McMansion subdivisions springing up in the surrounding country. )
One thing about Chapel Hill/Carrboro. A friend who had moved there from Seattle described it as “very West Coast… five years ago.”
They do have Helena’s (a fantastic Hungarian restaurant) and Allen & Son (the best barbecue - you know it’s good from the taxidermy), but it’s a little too close to UNC for my taste. Last I heard, real estate prices have gone through the roof, but they may be low compared to Seattle.
I much prefer Raleigh, since that’s where I grew up, but since it sounds like you’ll be working on the west side of RTP, you’d be better off in Chapel Hill or Durham. Unless you like shitty traffic.
Agreed. I’m originally from Cleveland, and I can tell you in an up-close and personal way allll about white flight (my parents still live in a neighborhood where 95% of the whites moved within 2 years of the first black family moving in. There are exactly 2 white families still living there now). Cleveland was, and still is, a very segregated city, not only between blacks and whites, but between white ethnic groups as well. Chapel Hill is not, in any way, shape or form, anything like that. Remember - it is a university town and you will find a very wide variety of ethnicities co-existing there. The main issue is how expensive it is to live there - it’s very desirable to a lot of people, which means the prices are quite high.
My own neighborhood in Hillsborough is a mix of white, black, and Hispanic folks, and no one thinks anything of the color or ethnicity of whoever moves in. After experiencing what I did where I grew up, it’s really quite refreshing.
I think the thing that people are trying to warn you about with Durham is that the government there tends to divide along racial lines on issues, and it ain’t pretty. There are also officials who have been found to be corrupt and yet still manage to find themselves in positions of power within the city. To me that is very disappointing and disheartening to see. I’m way tired of that kind of crap, so I wouldn’t choose to live there. If you don’t care about how your city or schools are run, though, there are lots of nice places to live there. I’ve already mentioned the condos going up in the American Tobacco Project, and there’s also places like the Trinity Park neighborhood, which is near Duke and Ninth Street, which is an avenue of funky shops and restaurants located within Old West Durham. If you go up into the northern part of Durham County, you’ll also find larger houses with more land, but it sounds like that may not be your thing.
Mrs. Ivorybill and I lived in Raleigh for five years while I was working on my Ph.D. and doing the post-doc/find-a-job thing. Now that my office has undertaken a realignment - - our formerly stand-alone status as a satellite of the regional office has been changed to our now being a satellite of the RTP satellite of the regional office - - there’s a real possibility that we’ll be headed back to the area in a year or two.
Personally, I’d live in Durham. True, at the moment the area there is kind of like the red-haired step-child of the three, but it’s centrally located and the real estate is much more reasonable and affordable. According to friends there, it’s possible to get in to a neighborhood that is currently sort of shabby, put in some sweat equity, and get a good return on your housing investment. YMMV, though.
That said, I’ll echo others in this thread who have advised you to base your location on your commute. If you can stand it, drive the highways during rush hour to see how much gridlock you run into. Traffic will be bad no matter where you live, but you can minimize the amount of time you spend commuting with good planning.
(“Two whole hours to the mountains, huh? And two whole hours to the beach? Well, I suppose I won’t hold that against you.”)
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