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hey... seriously, with traffic it's appx 40-45 minutes to RTP. I can get to the airport in 30-35 minutes during off-peak traffic hours. I've heard a lot of people say they can get to RTP in 30-35 minutes but I personally can't fathom how that could be true w/ traffic during rush hour. Maybe they take some secret route? Honestly, it's a nice town and the prices are still good but I frequently find myself complaining about the proximity to the rest of the triangle except for Raleigh and Cary which are about 20 minutes away and "tolerable". It's growing so the investment would be a good one but you should be realistic that you can get house you love at the right price but will have to drive an extra 15 minutes to get anywhere. It was something I had to accept due to our budget and on most days, I'm ok with it and on some days it can be a pain. Maybe because I moved from Cary I was spoiled with the convenience of everything so it may just be perception. I like FV but personally I wouldn't want to commute to RTP (I'm lucky I don't have to). I have a friend that works there and the commute doesn't bother her at all. I'm just being honest. HTH!
I thought the name was very funny when I moved here. In fact, when we looked on a map, I told my wife that this was one town I could never live in because of the name. Well, here we are. Once you read the history of the town, the name makes sense.
Got this from the FV Chamber of Commerce. Kind of a long read, but good.
The hyphenated name, Fuquay-Varina, reflects the dual heritage of two communities and the story of a couple's romance that led to their marriage and the communities coming together.
Fuquay Springs
Historians explain it all began back in 1663 during the reign of King Charles II of England when a charter was granted to the territory now known as the Carolinas to eight Lord's Proprietors. This vicinity of North Carolina was first known as "Piney Woods" and its first inhabitants were said to be Sippihaw Native-Americans.
It is believed the first European to settle here was a Frenchman named William Fuquay who purchased 1,000 acres of land for 50 cents an acre. William's son, Stephen married Sarah Austin of Wake County and built his home on what is now Pine Street . One of their sons, David Crockett Fuquay, is the one for whom it is believed the town was named.
David and his wife Louisa raised six sons in the quiet farming community then known as Sippihaw, a name taken from an Indian word meaning "good will." One of their sons, Stephen, is credited with discovery of a mineral spring on the property.
Stephen Fuquay was the proprietor of a large plantation and one day while plowing his fields he discovered a spring. He began using it for drinking water, and soon became convinced that the mineral water had valuable healing properties. Word spread after he told his friends and neighbors and the springs developed a reputation. They were walled in on four sides leaving the front lower for drainage. A gourd was hung at the spring for everyone to use.
Summer tourists began coming to the area, using several small hotels that had been built. But it wasn't until the early 1900s that the popularity of the spring reached its peak.
Meanwhile, one of the buildings built near the springs was a two-room private schoolhouse overlooking the springs at which a J.D. Ballentine was the first schoolmaster. He enlisted in the Confederate Army during Civil War and the romantic interest which led to the name Fuquay-Varina was about to develop.
Varina
To promote the morale of southern troops, many young women wrote to the soldiers and Ballentine received letters from a girl who signed her name "Varina." Eventually, she told him her real name -- Virginia Avery -- and later they met, fell in love, and married after the war. Ballentine continued to call her Varina throughout their married life.
They settled in the town of Sippihaw after the war and in 1880 when the town needed a post office, one was opened south of the mineral springs and Ballentine acted as postmaster. He called it Varina. The couple also opened a general store called the Varina Mercantile Company and in 1899 a community developed around the store.
This was the time the mineral water was in vogue and people came from miles around to visit the springs. Several commercial ventures were established and the Norfolk Southern Railroad and the Durham and Southern Railroad brought customers to the area on a daily basis.
At the turn of the 20th Century, a Raleigh resident, John A. Mills, developed a stop for his existing lumber railroad in Sippihaw. His flat cars were fitted with seats and "Moonlight Excursions" brought guests to the springs. The prospering town attracted Dr. J.A. Sexton to the community and he operated the Blanchard Hotel and a nearby restaurant to handle the town's increasing popularity.
The Town of Sippihaw was renamed Fuquay Springs in 1902 and incorporated in April 17, 1909, encompassing in its town limits the Varina business section and the Varina railroad junction. At this point, the dividing line between Fuquay Springs and Varina was virtually indistinguishable, but both continued to develop as separate communities. Varina later reestablished its own post office with the help of the local congressman, but the town was never incorporated.
By 1910 the Varina Union Station was built in Varina, the town obtained its own post office, and the Bank of Varina was founded in 1914. A year later the Fuquay Mineral Springs Corporation was formed in the first serious attempt to commercialize the springs. Water was bottled, sold, and delivered to various hotels.
The Ben Wiley Hotel was built in 1925 in Fuquay Springs to serve patrons of the springs. Special excursion trains brought passengers from Raleigh for baseball games and dances and celebrations were held at the springs each year on Easter Monday and the Fourth of July.
A growing tobacco industry continued to fuel Varina's development, and included the addition of the Varina Supply Company, a farming supply store, in 1925. The Varina Knitting Company, built in 1933, operated until 1957.
By the 1920s, the two communities boasted five tobacco warehouses, a cotton buyer, and fifteen stores. The area became a trade and market center for Southern Wake, Harnett and Johnston Counties throughout the first half of this century.
While residents began joining together in combined congregations at churches, the two towns maintained separate identities and post offices until 1963 when they eventually joined to become Fuquay-Varina.
Fuquay-Varina Today
Today high-tech industries and innovative businesses balance the town's economy, blending economic development and community preservation.
Yet town fathers are not shy in letting it be known they want to maintain the "village character" associated with Fuquay-Varina. A planned revitalized downtown will offer specialty shops, boutiques, restaurants, professional offices, and second-story residences, along with ample parking and pedestrian friendly streets.
By the time the massive renovation project is finished, the block-and-a-half-long area along Broad Street will ultimately provide the feeling of a small town that thrived as an overnight railroad stop at the start of the 1900s. The vintage appeal will include extensive landscaping, park benches, new street lighting, new sidewalks with brick bands and scored concrete, and completely renovated buildings with first-floor expanded space and new residential or loft living on the second.
Guided by the Fuquay-Varina Revitalization Association, Inc., special attention will be added in the commercial and new residential space in the historic district of the town. Attention will be devoted to facades, signage, and graphics, window displays, building appearances, rear entrances, landscaping, public seating, parking and park areas.
The project is the only one of its kind in Wake County involving a cooperative funding effort between town and state government. When completed, the area will be recognized as the Varina Commercial Historical District as part of the National Registry of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The springs ceased to be a resort area in the 1920s. Located on the southwest corner of the intersection of West Spring Street and South Main Street , the site is to be developed as a historical park. Though they still flow today, the waters are not being used commercially.
Fuquay and Varina really are nice little downtowns.
Sure, we have to drive a little bit further to get to North Raleigh or RTP but who cares? Cary still has everything North Raleigh has and maybe more. I can be in parts of Cary in just 15 minutes. Plus, Fuquay-Varina continues to grow, and we will have everything Cary and North Raleigh has over time.
540 will one day be extended this way as well....(over at Wake Tech) and Holly springs. We will be much closer to North Raleigh and the rest of the triangle then. Property values will sore! F-V is a great place to invest.
Thank you so much! That info was terrific! A 35-40 minute commute to RDU is doable- my husband does 45-55 now b/c NY traffic is so bad (w/o traffic his commute here would only be about 25-30)
That story was adorable. Is there information somewhere about where the highway will be located so that you can avoid buying a house in the highway zone?
What about the commute to NC State? That's close to Cary right? About 20 minutes?
NC State is in Raleigh. I'd say a 25 minute commute? 30, if it's peak traffic? I don't know, it used to take me about 20 mins to get between the two but traffic has slowed it down a good bit.
If you are anywhere inside the current town limits, you won't be too close to 540 at all. It's going to be about 5 miles north of the middle of town near Wake tech, just south of ten-ten road off of hwy 401. If you look at a map, just look for ten-ten road and 401. You'll notice most of the main town areas are much further south. NC State should be about 20-30 minutes give or take.
I'm also from NY and I can tell you that the traffic is MUCH better! Even though the distance maybe a little long you won't experience anything like stand-still ny metro area traffic. I've found all sorts of neat little back roads and short cuts to avoid highways and although that take longer, at least I am moving the whole time and not getting frustrated.
What S/D's are you looking at? Maybe me and the other FV residents can give you some insight.
Actually- SD wise- I have no clue. Up till this week I really was set on Leesville or Highcroft or Adams. Obviously- not in Fuquay.
It seems Ballentine may be a little more preffered (and thats where the house I really seem to like has a base school of) Where do your children go? I just love the more wodsy, tranquil- 1.26 acre world that it seems Fuquay Varina is.
I'll know more after our trip down to really see May 4-8th. The thing is- I really want to rent a house for six months first- I'm just not sure I want to jump in- what if we hate our new jobs? Or the kids don't do well? I want to leave that option for a little while. Only problem is I can't seem to find much rent wise as far as a house goes- most are complexes which I don't see working with three boys and a chocolate lab
Sue
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