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Tell me about Durham, NC please  

post #1 of 17
9/24/08 at 5:26pm
Thread Starter 
Yahoo!!!! We are moving to your town, Durham, NC in the near future. We have been trying to figure out a good place to relocate. DH has a great job that just opened up an office in Durham. We asked if we could relocate there and they said "Yes." :


Please tell me anything you would like to about Durham. I would specifically like to know these things:

quaint neighborhoods
best elementary schools
school vaccination policies - easy to get around or not
most affordable neighborhoods that have lots of shade trees
what is the downtown like - last time I was there was 1989
are there any concerns about environmental pollution
where are the highest crime areas
are there any "green" elementary schools
is there an active fun LLL group
we may rent initially - what are rents looking like for 2 bedroom homes and do they allow pets as a general rule or not

Stuff like that. I also want to know if you as a Natural Parenting mama/papa like it there. The one time I was there in 1989, I absolutely loved it!! Especially the Duke University campus and town area. Let me know what you like and do not like.

See you soon! Yipee :
post #2 of 17
9/24/08 at 8:54pm
Soon-to-be-welcome to the neighborhood. Sorry I can't answer most of your questoins. I am in Chapel Hill, but in Durham county. I have heard the Creekside Elementary school is good, but they're dealing with an overcrowding issue at the moment, so I don't know what's up with that. There are plenty of nice places to live around here, but I'm not up on Durham neighborhoods. We really like this area, lots of other MDC mamas and AP folks, great farmer's markets, good natural food stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, as well as several co-ops), fun things to do with kids.
post #3 of 17
9/24/08 at 11:30pm
I'm not a neighborhood expert but I used to work in Durham. It has a lot of great things going on. Arts, downtown revitalization, farmers market, great restaurants, general APness so no worries on that front.

I really like the Forest Hills or Rockwood area. Part of Forest Hills is in the walk zone for the magnet montessori school called Morehead. I have friends with kids at that school and they love it.

I am sure some real Durham people will chime in, just wanted to say welcome! and you will love it here!
post #4 of 17
9/25/08 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 
Thank you for the responses. Trying to figure out finances. Looking forward to the move.
post #5 of 17
9/26/08 at 11:12pm
I'm not sure that Morehead has a walk zone. I think that Watts Montessori and Club Blvd Arts and Humanities do though. If I were you I would look in Trinity Park (there are a very few affordable rentals there and they ought to be in the Watts walk zone) and Watts/Hillendale.
post #6 of 17
9/27/08 at 12:42am
Morehead definitely has a walk zone.

I live in Watts-Hospital, a central Durham older neighborhood and love it. If you google, "Watts Hospital Hillandale Durham" you should get the neighborhood association's webpage, and you can sign up for the listserv, a great place to get the first crack at rentals. I've seen a couple of 2 bdr. houses on the list in the last week I think they were $750 and $900. If you PM me with your email address I can probably forward them to you.

There are a lot of other threads on this topic, I can't write more now but if you search for threads on Durham or the Triangle you should find a lot of info!
post #7 of 17
9/27/08 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
Thank you so much. So looking forward to a new town.
post #8 of 17
9/28/08 at 11:04am
I live in Durham... this is my second time living here; my fist time was for 8 years and this time for 2 so far.

I can't really answer your questions but I wanted to say hello and welcome to Durham!:
post #9 of 17
9/28/08 at 4:47pm
It's hard to answer your neighborhood questions without knowing your price range, but whatever your price range, I believe you will find a neighborhood with trees. It's pretty common in Durham.

But all of Durham is great. You will find a community to fit your needs here--there's much variety. As in most cities, high crime is focused in one small area of Durham. I recommend finding some addresses you are interested in and then looking at the crime report to see if they are within your comfort level. Some people, after all, come from larger urban areas and laugh at what we think is high crime. And of course some people come from tiny homogenous rural areas where everyone's related, so YMMV.

Here is a note from a recent Durham CVB email: "Durham Public Schools is first in the Triangle region and second in the state with a LEED rated elementary school, W.G. Pearson Elementary."

(LEED is the green building rating thingy.)

(Pearson is the "gifted" magnet--not in the "advanced learner" gifted way, but in the "all children are gifted" way.)

You won't recognize the downtown from changes since 1989. You simply will not recognize it. There are so many restaurants, art strips... and there was a huge renovation to the streetscape.

Welcome in advance!
post #10 of 17
9/28/08 at 5:16pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks so much supervee. I am busting with excitement!!
post #11 of 17
9/28/08 at 11:21pm
i live in durham and really like living here. my zip is 27713 in a super quiet, affordable neighborhood.

i go to LLL for durham south and it's a great group. just look on LLL's website under Durham County for the meetings. We have a few.

i don't know school stuff at all.
post #12 of 17
9/29/08 at 7:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gunter View Post

i go to LLL for durham south and it's a great group. just look on LLL's website under Durham County for the meetings. We have a few.
Looking forward to joining!
post #13 of 17
10/27/08 at 12:50am
we are thinking about moving to durham from pittsboro chatham county.


my dh works in CH (right down town).

we are ready to buy our range is in the 170s....

i would love good neighborhood suggestions!
thanks...feel free to PM.
post #14 of 17
10/27/08 at 4:57pm
Well, I love my neighborhood, and it's close to our school, Hope Valley Elementary, which we also love (a good thing, with a 7 yr. age spread and 3 boys I calculated I will be a parent at that school for 13 yrs!)

I love my neighborhood because it is quiet and low key. It's pretty neat and tidy but nobody minds if I don't get around to mowing my lawn as often as I should.

It's also incredibly convenient. We are very close to several grocery stores, some great restaurants, a post office, a library (though closing for 18 mos. for renovations next week), a movie theatre, we just ended up here by accident 13 yrs. ago and have found it suits us more than anything we could've looked for on purpose.

There's no real name for our neighborhood. I would say it is bounded by University Dr. on the north, Martin Luther King on the south, Hope Valley Rd. on the east and Old Chapel Hill Rd. on the west

Good luck and welcome to Durham in advance!
post #15 of 17
10/27/08 at 5:22pm
Jennifer, you sound like you live right near me.
post #16 of 17
10/28/08 at 3:43pm
Amy, are you Max's mom? I mean, duh, obviously you are A Max's mom, but I think we have met a few times, if your son Max knows my son Iain.
post #17 of 17
10/28/08 at 4:29pm
OMG! Hey there! I should have known you'd be around here.
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