Get to Know Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill is a true college town, and its name is frequently used as a metonym for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the state flagship at the town's core. The town is small enough to feel like the whole thing is just part of UNC’s extended campus and it’s thoroughly collegiate in a way that Durham and Raleigh, significantly bigger cities, are not. Though it can seem like all of Chapel Hill bleeds Tar Heel blue — especially on game days — there are residential neighborhoods that do offer some distance from university life. These can range from new construction communities with golf courses and elaborate pools, to walkable enclaves with historic homes and their own small downtowns. And though college kids rule Franklin Street, Chapel Hill’s vibes often lean more toward tenured professor than grungy undergrad. Here you’ll find the expected bookstores and bars, but also a Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, and many upscale eateries.

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Living in the Research Triangle

The Research Triangle, or just the Triangle, is the three-sided region encompassed by the invisible lines that connect its three anchor cities: Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. This alliance came about in the late 1950s when academics at the three major research universities in each city — North Carolina State University in Raleigh, Duke in Durham, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — proposed the creation of a research park to allow the three schools to collaborate. The result, Research Triangle Park, which borders all three cities, quickly became an enormous success. As a result of RTP’s development, the Triangle has become an incredibly vibrant place to live, attracting newcomers with a combination of historic architecture, Southern charm, a delicious food scene, and an atmosphere of college town coolness married to high-tech employment opportunities and investment.