The Research Triangle - Three Times the Attraction

Raleigh's Skyline1

Visitors to the area have a wide selection of attractions and activities to choose from, all of which are supported by hotels, restaurants and shopping. History and culture is also available at a number of venues, from museums examining the tobacco industry to theatres providing live entertainment, films and more. While the Triangle of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill form a core, visitors should be aware that accommodations and attractions are specific to each city, meaning, for example, that a hotel in Raleigh may not afford easy access to the activities available in the neighbouring cities.

ORIENTATION

Located in central North Carolina, the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area can be found east of Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Major highways into the Research Triangle area consist of Route 40 from the west and Route 85 from the north. While the Triangle is made up of three distinct locations, there are a number of other municipalities surrounding Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. These include Cary, Morrisville, Apex and Holly Springs, among others.

HISTORY

The Raleigh-Durham area has a long history, beginning with the Sioux tribes that lived in the area. The Sioux were instrumental in helping settlers understand the land and showed them how to carve out an existence from the North Carolina landscape. European settlement began in the mid-1700s, with Irish, English and Scottish immigrants moving to the area to work the land and establish shipping routes. Between the American Revolution and the American Civil War, a number of plantations staked claims in the Raleigh-Durham area. Growth was bolstered following the Civil War with the flourishing of the tobacco industry. Brightleaf tobacco, a strain produced in this area of North Carolina, proved to be milder and more flavorful than other tobacco available at the time, and the industry burgeoned as soldiers from both the North and South enjoyed the tobacco strain.

Raleigh grew into a retail hub in the state, offering a variety of shops alongside restaurants, theatres and more. Textile mills later became common in the Durham area, with the city boasting the first mill that produced denim. In the 1950s and 1960s, a special tax district was set up in Durham to accommodate a new research facility. The Research Triangle Park was constructed in 1959, bringing a major economic boost to the Raleigh-Durham area. Since the inception of the Research Triangle, many inventions of world-reknown have been discovered there, including Astro-turf, the artificial grass used in baseball and football fields.

The climate in this part of North Carolina is relatively mild year round, with temperatures only just dipping below the freezing mark during the winter months. This climate allows visitors to experience the North Carolinan outdoors throughout the year, with each season offering a different array of activities.

TRANSPORTATION

The Raleigh-Durham International Airport is the major transportation hub in the area and is situated between the two cities. International and domestic flights arrive and depart daily, and several rental car companies can be found at the arrivals terminal.

Getting around the Research Triangle is facilitated by the Triangle Transit Authority, a public transportation system with service throughout the Triangle area. Taxis, limousines and other fare-based modes of transportation can also be found in the area. Raleigh also offers an historic trolley, which is a replica of the first public transport in the city. Tours are offered Saturdays, 11am-3pm, from March through December.

FEATURED ATTRACTIONS

Attractions and activities in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area are plentiful. Thanks to local transportation, visitors can easily move between the different cities, and there are specific attractions that draw travelers to each region.

	North Carolina State Capitol Building2

Raleigh
Raleigh is the state capital of North Carolina as well as the county seat of Wake County. With the second highest population in the state, Wake County plays an important role in politics and has a history of unpredictable campaign races. Though there were only three Democrats elected in the county between 1960 and 2004, the margin between the winners and losers has always been slim.

A proliferation of oak trees has earned Raleigh the moniker of the City of Oaks and makes autumn a particularly scenic time. Visitors seeking to enjoy the outdoors while in Raleigh find a raft of activities at Pullen Park. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the park's commanding feature is a working carousel circa 1912 that features 52 horses that were hand-carved and painted. A miniature train, paddle-boats and picnic shelters round out the park's appeal. Pullen Park is open to the public, however there are fees for some of the activities.

North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh3

Arts and culture in Raleigh can be found at several venues. Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek is a large outdoor concert area with two stages and food concessions. Featuring permanent seating as well as a large grass area, this is the place to find big name performers in Raleigh. Also in Raleigh, the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts is a diverse venue that offers a concert hall, an opera theater, an experimental theater space and a large plaza for outdoor gatherings.

Families visiting Raleigh have a wide range of activities to choose from. The Exploris Interactive Museum is home to an IMAX theater and is focused on expanding knowledge for everyone while simultaneously highlighting the similarities between all living beings.

	Exploris Interactive Museum Raleigh4

Sports fans to the Raleigh area have events to choose from year round. The National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes play at the RBC Arena, also home to the North Carolina State Wolfpack, the local college basketball team. College sports are popular across the board in the Triangle, with basketball and football also highly regarded and competitive.

Durham
The nearby city of Durham features attractions that make it a travel destination in its own right. From academics to arts and culture, Durham can educate and entertain visitors any time of year.

Durham Civic Center5

Three acclaimed educational institutions can be found within Durham. North Carolina Central University and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics create an atmosphere of intellectual and practical knowledge. The prestigious Duke University is also located here, a college famous for its education as well as its sports teams, primarily the Blue Devils, Duke's basketball team.

The Durham Bulls are another popular sports franchise in the city, and have been the subject of a Hollywood movie, Bull Durham, produced in 1988. This minor league team has been in existence for over 100 years and currently play at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, constructed in 1995.

The arts are well represented in Durham as well, with galleries and theatres offering an assortment of entertainment. The Carolina Theatre of Durham is used as a live performance space as well as a movie house, and is available for private functions as well. The annual Bull Durham Blues Festival and the Troika Music Festival celebrate the spirit of independent music in Durham every summer, featuring a line-up of some of the best musicians the region has to offer.

The tobacco industry has strong roots in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. Visitors can learn about this history at the Duke Homestead historical site. In addition to maintaining a museum of tobacco industry artifacts, the staff at the Duke Homestead grows a tobacco crop every year. Tours provide visitors with an opportunity to learn about farming, harvesting and preparing the tobacco crop to go to market.

For walkers, bikers, and runners, the American Tobacco Trail running through Durham is an attraction that allows visitors to appreciate the beauty of this area. The American Tobacco Trail is part of the nation’s Rails-to-Trails program, an initiative which converts old railway lines into hiking and biking pathways.

	Durham's Carolina Theater6

Shopping in Durham is varied and offers a number of services for visitors to avail themselves of. One of the more popular shopping areas in the city is Ninth Street, featuring a collection of specialty stores and restaurants that are billed as an “alternative shopping experience” to the local malls and department stores.

One of Durham's more unique events is the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. This celebration of non-ficiton films—one of the largest in the nation—is aimed at educating and enlightening the audience and brings a wide range of subjects to the screen every year.

Chapel Hill
While smaller in size than neighboring Raleigh and Durham, Chapel Hill nonetheless features several attractions not to be missed while in the area. One of the special things about Chapel Hill is the free public transportation system. Instituted in 2002 as a way to alleviate traffic congestion, cut down on pollution and court more federal transportation funding, the city of Chapel Hill provides access to a number of destinations at no cost to the rider.

Some of the attractions that visitors will find in Chapel Hill include the University of North Carolina, the oldest State University in the United States. Tours of the campus are available through the University Visitor's Center, and are offered Monday through Friday at 1:30pm.

Educational opportunities are not confined to academia in Chapel Hill. The Morehead Planetarium is one of the oldest planetariums in the country and served as the training ground for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space missions.

Musical history can be found at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, located just west of Chapel Hill. It was at this club that many nationally-known performers got their start, including the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Superchunk and James Taylor, among others.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: