 The
Research Triangle, the area within and adjacent to the triangle
formed by Durham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh, offers an extended community
that includes four universities, several colleges, and the Research
Triangle Park. Duke University and North Carolina Central University
in Durham, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North
Carolina State University in Raleigh, along with the diverse community
of scholars and researchers in the laboratories of the Research Triangle
Park, give the area an intellectual and cultural diversity found in
few parts of the country.
The city of Durham is a vibrant place, with endless outdoor recreation opportunities and top sports teams (including Duke basketball and Durham Bulls baseball, made famous by the movie Bull Durham). Near the Duke campus are the offbeat Ninth Street shopping district, the Eno River City Park, and Brightleaf Square, an old tobacco warehouse-turned-shopping and restaurant gallery. Durham offers cultural attractions worthy of much larger cities, including the $20 million Durham Arts Center, the acclaimed American Dance Festival, the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz, the Museum of Life and Science, and Duke's own Primate Center.
In addition to its own attractions, Durham is particularly well-placed in
a recreation-rich state—both North Carolina beaches and the Great Smoky
Mountains are only a three- to four-hour drive away. Mount Mitchell, the
highest peak in the east, is just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Pisgah
National Forest, surrounded by numerous resorts and campgrounds. The hundreds
of miles of beaches along the North Carolina shore include Nag's Head, Cape
Hatteras, Kitty Hawk (the site of the Wright Brother's historic flights),
and many undeveloped stretches in the National Seashores, which are very
popular for camping and fishing. |