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Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,779 posts, read 15,793,171 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
The little plaza out front is called "Peace and Justice Plaza" and has a marker dedicated to some prominent town activists. There's a flag pole out front and mailboxes on the street. Town of Chapel Hill : Peace and Justice Plaza The Occupy Wall Street activists were camped out there for several months. The District Court and the Post Office occupy the majority of the building and the Street Scene Teen Center is in the basement.
BTW, The Piggly Wiggly grocery store and Chatham Marketplace (organic co-op) are both about .5 miles from the courthouse in downtown Pittsboro. Surely that's a walkable distance. Food Lion is just a smidge further.
I love Hillsborough, but Carrboro (as well as Chapel Hill) offers much more in the way of cultural amenities with nationally renowned music venues, restaurants, galleries, etc. I wouldn't call Hillsborough "polished" at all. It is old, quaint, and steeped in Revolutionary War era history, but not polished. One of the really sad stories of Hillsborough is the decline of the 1838 Colonial Inn. There are many historic properties in Hillsborough that have been saved and maintained, but not all. Ayr Mount and the Poet's Walk is a town fave.
Carrboro has history, too. Carr Mill (mall) dates from the late 1800s when it was a textile mill. It has been carefully converted to shops and offices and is the center of town along with the original Weaver St Market, which is housed in a newer part of the Carr Mill complex. (The Hillsborough branch of Weaver St only opened in the past few years.) The Station nightclub and Southern Rail restaurant are in the renovated old train station and train cars that also date from the late 1800s.
Chapel Hill has many historic buildings and homes, too. Sutton's Drug Store recently celebrated its 90th birthday with 1923 prices for hot dogs and sodas, etc. Gimghoul Castle is a fave place to take visitors, but there are many older bldgs in Chapel Hill. Old East was built in 1793.
Never noticed the grocery stores in Pittsboro. Yes, those are definitely walkable. I still think I'd pick Hillsborough over it due to the size. Pittsboro's "downtown" is quite small.
When I say "polished" about Hillsborough, I mean the main street, Churton Street looks neat. They have street lamps down the street with flags or something all lined up. There are new signs throughout the town pointing out places of interest. It looks uniform and quaint. I agree that there are plenty of run-down places and less polished look off of the main road. And yes, I've seen that old Colonial Inn. But when you first drive into downtown, there is a quaint, orderly, small-town America feel to it.
On the other hand, Carrboro is more scattered. It looks more organic in how it grew. There are streets at crazy angles to one another. There is no uniformity and no "charming" (my opinion, of course) quaint look to it, overall. And lots of rundown looking stores and homes right in the center of it all. I don't get a small-town, apple-pie America feel from Carrboro, more of a hippy, hangout town.
I realize that both Carrboro and Chapel Hill have historic buildings. I think Hillsborough just has so many in a concentrated area that it presents an historical feel, overall. In fact, they even have a tourist center right downtown and a walking tour you can take to observe many of the 18th century buildings.
I think the OP is just going to have to come down and examine the towns for herself and see which appeal to her. I think looking at Hillsborough, Pittsboro, Carrboro, and Chapel Hill would be a great start, along with Apex and Wake Forest. How she feels about them will probably depend on where she came from. I come from Pennsylvania near Philadelphia where my hometown was founded in the late 1600's. I am used to small-towns that are very old and colonial looking, which may be why the look of Hillsborough appeals to me (and the fact that they have a library right downtown!). My first impression when I drove through Carrboro three years ago was "it looks rundown." That impression has not changed since I've lived here. But others might find it appealing.
I think it is in the eye of the beholder. I worked in Hillsborough for several years and have several friends who live there now. I do like it, but I don't find it "polished". The main area looks historic to me, but I wouldn't have described it as neat, either, although I get what you were driving at. Definitely worth a look for the OP. Southern Village is neat and polished, IMO ! (Too neat and polished for the likes of me. )
North Churton St is quaint for the few blocks right around the courthouse. South Churton is full of fast food restaurants. Hillsborough also boasts a super WalMart and an empty Walmart, neither of which you'll find in Chapel Hill or Carrboro.
I think Chapel Hill and Carrboro are more vibrant with more interesting stuff going on, but Hillsborough and Pittsboro are both definitely worth a look and both are a little cheaper.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro lean a little farther to the left (liberal/progressive) than Hillsborough and Pittsboro although both H-boro and P-boro are left-leaning, too. You'll find more conservative leaning folks in Hillsborough or Pittsboro, fwiw.
We recently visited the area to "townshop" and it sounds like we are in the same age as you, with grown children, but not near retirement. Before we arrived I was convinced that Chapel Hill or its Carrboro community would most appeal to us. While Chapel Hill is lovely, and a great place to visit ( especially for great restaurants) it is overwhelmed with college kids. The entire community seems to revolve around UNC. Not for us! We actually thought Carrboro was kind of dumpy. Yes, it is artsy, but not in a way that appealed to us. We finally hit the nail in the head when we visited Apex. Really cute downtown, plenty of green space and walking trails, all the amenities if "city life" and not far removed from the more urban areas of Durham and Raleigh. With the added bonus of Jordan Lake for boating, picnicking and swimming we were sold! We did look at Pittsboro as well, but in our opinion, it just didn't compare. Now I know we haven't moved there yet( this summer) and our minds could change, but for the immediate future it feels like the right place to call "home".
We recently visited the area to "townshop" and it sounds like we are in the same age as you, with grown children, but not near retirement. Before we arrived I was convinced that Chapel Hill or its Carrboro community would most appeal to us. While Chapel Hill is lovely, and a great place to visit ( especially for great restaurants) it is overwhelmed with college kids. The entire community seems to revolve around UNC. Not for us! We actually thought Carrboro was kind of dumpy. Yes, it is artsy, but not in a way that appealed to us. We finally hit the nail in the head when we visited Apex. Really cute downtown, plenty of green space and walking trails, all the amenities if "city life" and not far removed from the more urban areas of Durham and Raleigh. With the added bonus of Jordan Lake for boating, picnicking and swimming we were sold! We did look at Pittsboro as well, but in our opinion, it just didn't compare. Now I know we haven't moved there yet( this summer) and our minds could change, but for the immediate future it feels like the right place to call "home".
We made the same move 5 years ago and agree with your take. We live in Cary, very close to Apex and have been extremely happy.
We finally hit the nail in the head when we visited Apex. Really cute downtown, plenty of green space and walking trails, all the amenities if "city life" and not far removed from the more urban areas of Durham and Raleigh.
Thanks. Apex seems to offer more than Pittsboro, in terms of stores you would visit for daily needs. It also has a park area for a farmer's market, which is freqently on the "want list" for relocators.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,779 posts, read 15,793,171 times
Reputation: 10888
Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
I think it is in the eye of the beholder. I worked in Hillsborough for several years and have several friends who live there now. I do like it, but I don't find it "polished". The main area looks historic to me, but I wouldn't have described it as neat, either, although I get what you were driving at. Definitely worth a look for the OP. Southern Village is neat and polished, IMO ! (Too neat and polished for the likes of me. )
North Churton St is quaint for the few blocks right around the courthouse. South Churton is full of fast food restaurants. Hillsborough also boasts a super WalMart and an empty Walmart, neither of which you'll find in Chapel Hill or Carrboro.
I think Chapel Hill and Carrboro are more vibrant with more interesting stuff going on, but Hillsborough and Pittsboro are both definitely worth a look and both are a little cheaper.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro lean a little farther to the left (liberal/progressive) than Hillsborough and Pittsboro although both H-boro and P-boro are left-leaning, too. You'll find more conservative leaning folks in Hillsborough or Pittsboro, fwiw.
Yes, Southern Village is very neat and polished and fake looking, I agree. I feel like I live in the Truman Show.
I've been to the Chapel Hill Visitor's Center. It's very nice. (I actually went there to buy postcards when I first moved here, because I couldn't find any anywhere else. I wanted to buy all 4 that they had, but they were actually free, and I felt funny taking them all, but the woman insisted). I just think the downtown part of Chapel Hill is too college-oriented (as it should be) for it to be the ideal town, for me anyway. I like living right in the heart of a downtown, not 1.5 miles away. But at the heart of downtown CH, it's mostly student housing. I think it would be a great place to go to college, though!
And I like Carrboro. And even though my address is Chapel Hill, we are closer to downtown Carrboro than CH, so I spend much more time there. It just hasn't taken me in yet. I can't get past the overall rundown look of it. Although I find many parts of it to be great and unique - like the Farmer's Market, the Weaver Street Market lawn and its concerts, and all the coffee shops, etc. Maybe I will eventually grow to love it, but I'm not there yet.
Hillsborough captured me the first time I saw it. The downtown looks so quaint to me. And it really has all the amenities I look for in a small downtown without all the college students. On the other hand, it is pretty rural and you do see rundown homes and the like around there, too. Ultimately, we didn't choose to live there because of the schools and lack of ethnic/religious diversity. But it's my favorite town to visit so far.
Pittsboro is very quaint and a nice place to visit, but it's quite small and rural, so it would appeal to some and not to others.
Next on my list is to visit downtown Apex (wanted to go to the Peak festival last weekend, but we had soccer games and a birthday party to attend) and then Wake Forest. These towns weren't liveable options for us since my husband works in Burlington, so we never checked them out. But I look forward to seeing them.
Poppydog, thanks for sharing that video on Carrboro. I love those UNC videos about places in NC. We watch those shows every week on tv. It's given us a lot of ideas for day and weekend trips. BTW, they were here in Southern Village filming the other week - at least that's who I believe was here. We saw the cameras and the trucks. So, it will be interesting to see if it's on tv in the coming months.
OP, please come back to this thread after you visit and tell us what you thought of each place. It's interesting to hear everyone's perspective. We all come from different places and have different ideas on what is nice and what isn't. It's neat to hear newcomers' reactions.
ETA: After watching the UNCTV video of Carrboro, I looked for one on Hillsborough. Here it is:
I think Apex could be a good fit too. I think a lot depends on knowing where the OP is from. That way if anyone if from the same place they can compare. I haven't been to Carrboro or Pittsboro so can't comment. WF just doesn't do it for me, for some reason. Cary's downtown is still a work in progress. The P.O. is there though (and I actually know the PO building that poppydog mentioned in CH!! isn't there a parking garage around the corner?)
CH is a great downtown, the OP would have to decide for themselves if they can live the blue lifestyle and all the college kids would make them crazy. Some retirees really like having that kind of atmosphere, you never know.
Yes, Twingles, the Rosemary St Parking Deck is right behind the Chapel Hill PO/Courthouse bldg.
Nice Hillsborough video, Michgc.
I think Hillsborough is sleepier and more Southern (Lee Smith!) and, of course, historic. Chapel Hill and Carrboro are more progressive, innovative, creative (although Hillsborough is quite artsy, too), and, of course, dominated by the University. If the OP likes the energy that being near a major university brings Chapel Hill and Carrboro are well worth a look. Tons of artists, musicians, writers in the whole area. Chapel Hill | Our State Magazine
Pittsboro is a little funkier/hippier than Hillsborough, but also very charming with lots of older homes lining the streets. There are plenty of old Southern farmers nearby, too, so it has that interesting dichotomy of funky/hippie and conservative rural resident. Pittsboro | Our State Magazine
Cary has a reputation (whether deserved or not) as being a little bland and boring, but it's actually home to a lot of ethnic diversity. Apex is a little suburban, but with a cute downtown core. Both places also have reputations as "a great place to raise a family". Both are also conveniently located for folks who work in RTP.
(BTW, I don't think the OP is retiring just yet, just moving without kids, as the OP said they will both be working from home.)
(BTW, I don't think the OP is retiring just yet, just moving without kids, as the OP said they will both be working from home.)
yeah, that's true....I was just thinking that just because of their stage in life, doesn't mean they'd rule out a college town....as you mentioned it has enough going on to keep people from getting "stale" for lack of a better word, if they so desire. CH reminds me a bit of the town I grew up in (a college town without the college) and I think any age could be happy there if it suits their needs.
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! (Too neat and polished for the likes of me. 
)
