Overview of the Triangle and Durham Areas

Durham is a wonderful place to live and is commonly recognized for its availability of jobs, relatively low cost of living, affordable housing, safe streets, a mild climate, culture, and recreation. There are many activities within 30 minutes of Durham.

 

Durham is at the apex of North Carolina's famed Research Triangle, an area formed by Duke University, North Carolina State University in Raleigh (20 miles from Duke), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (11 miles from Duke). Durham is also close to the coast and the mountains.

 

 

 

In the heart of the triangle, the Research Triangle Park covers 6,500 acres of rolling woodland dotted with some of the most sophisticated research facilities to be found anywhere. As a reporter for The Wall Street Journal once observed, the park is known for "pine trees and PhDs.”

 

Durham has come a long way since its early days as a tobacco and textile town. Old brick tobacco warehouses have been converted into modern condominiums and specialty shops, and multinational companies have flocked to the area to take advantage of the resources of the Research Triangle. Thanks largely to the universities and the Triangle's high-tech industries, the area is one of the most pleasant places to live in the South.

 

The range and level of cultural attractions found here rival those in much larger (and more crowded and expensive) cities. The $20 million downtown Durham Arts Center has become a national model for community arts programs. Other attractions include the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival and the highly acclaimed American Dance Festival; outstanding art exhibits, libraries and concerts in the park; and performances by renowned symphonies, opera, and ballet companies, as well as Emanuel Azenburg's pre-Broadway productions at Duke, described by one New York critic as "some of the best theater in America, at about half the price of a Broadway show."

 

 

In the movies, Durham is especially well known from "Bull Durham," which featured our popular minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls, a Class AAA farm club for the Tampa Bay Rays. The hot dogs always taste better at the ballpark, and rooting for the Bulls in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park is among the joys of summer. The term "bull pen" was coined here by a sportswriter to describe the area where relief pitchers warm up, because in days gone by their activity was overseen by a snorting, locomotive-size bull on a Bull Durham Tobacco billboard.

 

 

 

Having three rival NCAA schools in the Greater Durham area makes this a year-round haven for sports fans. In addition to college football and some of the best basketball anywhere, there is also Stanley cup winning Carolina Hurricanes ice hockey, soccer, lacrosse, tennis, track and field, golf, and competitive swimming.

 

Durham was recently ranked as one of the 'Best Places to Live 2009' by US News & World Report.  Click here to view the article and to learn more about their view of Durham.