|
Nicknamed the “Southern Part of Heaven,” Chapel Hill is the largest municipality in Orange County. The Chapel Hill is a college town, and much like most of the TRIANGLE area, has the draw of small-town living with a unique cosmopolitan feel. Centered around the nation’s first state university, the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, the residents of Chapel Hill are considered among the most educated in the state!
UNC-Chapel Hill is recognized for its excellence in the arts, sciences and humanities and is an international leader in public health, medical research, business and computer technology. The athletic programs for the university are excellent and well known. The basketball program is no exception!
Location
 Chapel Hill is located in the southeast corner of Orange County, with municipal boundaries extending slightly into Durham County to the east and almost to Chatham County to the south. It is coterminous to the west with the town of Carrboro, and to the east with the city of Durham. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 19.8 mi².
Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh make up the three corners of the Research Triangle, so named in 1959 with the creation of the Research Triangle Park, a research park between Durham and Raleigh.
History
Chapel Hill’s town center, named after New Hope Chapel, sits at the top of a hill where the Carolina Inn now stands. The town was founded to serve the nations’ first state university, UNC-Chapel hill. The town grew up around the schools. It was chartered in1851 and the main street that runs through town was named for Benjamin Franklin’s memory – Franklin Street.
Just a year after the North Carolina schools became integrated, the people of the city elected an African American mayor, Howard Lee, who served from 1969 to 1975. Lee helped establish the Chapel Hill Transit, among other accomplishments. Now financed through Chapel Hill, Carrboro city taxes and UNC-Chapel Hill student fees, the local buses are free of fares to all!
In the late 20th century, the town’s growth was considerable, and the people became wealthier. Affordable housing and urban sprawl emerged as major issues, and many people working in the town couldn’t afford to live there.
Taxes
The Town of Chapel Hill property tax rate for the 2004-2005 service year is 57.5 cents per $100 of taxable value
Demographics
As of the 2000 census, Chapel Hill’s population was 48,715. As of 2004 its estimated population was 52,440. The census also revealed:
• The median age was 24
• For every 100 females there were 82.1 males
• The median household income was $39,140
• The median family income was $88,200
• Male median income was $50,258
• Female median income was $32,917
• Per capita income was $24,133
• The unemployment rate was 1.3% (compared to 4% nationally)
• 21.6% of the population were below the poverty line
• The combined college enrollment was 24,892
• The population change from 1990-2000 was a 25.7% increase
The racial makeup of the town was 77.95% White, 11.42% Black or African American, 0.42% Native American, 7.18% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.16% from other races, and 1.85% from two or more races. 3.21% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Chapel Hill is North Carolina's best educated city, proportionately, with 77.0% of adult residents (25 and older) holding an associate degree or higher, and 73.7% of adults possessing a baccalaureate degree or higher (2000 Census).
Parks & Recreation
The Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department provides a variety of services, including youth and sports activities through league play, clinics, and drop-in free play. Sports activities include basketball, lacrosse, softball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, swimming and bocce ball. programs such as pottery, kayaking, karate, aqua-aerobics, teen clubs, after school, arts, hobby classes, rock climbing, dance and exercise, summer camps and family activities and special events such as Fourth of July Celebration, Festifall, Egg Hunt, and Halloween Carnival.
Key facilities provided by the Parks and Recreation Department include parks with picnic and playground equipment, swimming pools, community centers, gymnasiums, outdoor gardens, athletic fields, tennis courts, volleyball courts, bocce ball courts, basketball courts, skateboard park, batting cage, dog park and an extensive trail network and open space area. Those parks and recreation centers include, but are not limited to, Hargraves Park & Center, Umstead Park, Oakwood Park, Cedar Falls Park, Ephesus Park, Phillips Park, Pritchard Park, Jones Park, Westwood Park, Burlington Park & Play area, Community Park and Center, North Forest Hills, Homestead Park, Greenways (Battle Branch, Bolin and Dry Creek), future Meadowmont Park, future Southern Community Park, Merritt Pasture and Lincoln Center.
Other Attractions
 Chapel Hill has a variety of museums and other attractions that draw visitors. The Ackland Art Museum features a permanent collection of European and American paintings, sculptures from the Renaissance to the present, North Carolina pottery, and ancient Greek and Roman art and more!
The Dean E. Smith Center is home to the UNC men's basketball games, concerts,
special events and the Carolina Athletic Memorabilia Room.
Also, the Horace Williams House is a home of historical significance that is also the headquarters of the Chapel Hill Preservation Society. The house features exhibits, concerts, lectures, and other events.
Morehead Planetarium is one of only a few planetariums in the country with a Zeiss Model VI projector that can show approximately 8,900 stars. The first planetarium owned by a university, it was once used as a NASA training center for astronauts.
 North Carolina Botanical Garden is the largest natural botanical garden in the southeast with 600 acres of land, nature trails, carnivorous plant collections, aquatics, and herb gardens.
The North Carolina Collection Gallery includes exhibits, historic room settings and recreations of the Sir Walter Raleigh Rooms, Early Carolina Rooms, the library at Hayes Plantation and the Thomas Wolfe Room.
The Orange County Historical Museum depicts Orange County lifestyles and history from the time the Indians lived along the nearby Eno River through 1865 and the Civil War era. A second floor gallery features a different artist each month.
Education
The Chapel Hill school district has three high schools (Carrboro, Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill High), four middle schools (Culbreth, McGougle, Phillips and Smith Middle) and nine elementary schools (Carrboro, Ephesus, Estes Hills, Glenwood, Frank Porter, McDougle, Mary Scroggs, Seawell and another soon to come) which serve more than 10,000 students.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro is one of the top 37 school districts in the United States and the top performing school district in the Southeast US. These accolades are based on student SAT scores, participation in Advanced Placement courses, the number of National Merit Scholars and similar data (Offspring Magazine, Sept/Oct 2000).
Restaurants & Shopping
Like many college towns, Chapel Hill’s economy is dependant upon the support of the students and the year-round residents. The young, educated atmosphere in the town demand a variety of restaurants and shops. Some of the restaurants include large, national chains. But many of the cities restaurants are local and authentic! Some of them are: Pyewacker Restaurant, Cracovia European Restaurant, Il Palio Ristorante, Mariakakis’ Restaurant, an oyster bar and numerous caffes.
There are several local shops in the city, too, such as: Algonquin Books, The Library Night Club & Bar, Fosters Market and more!
Famous People
There is no shortage of notable people from Chapel Hill, and many more Tar Heel alumnae have gone on to big things! To name a few, actor Andy Griffith, former basketball coach Dean Smith, NBA player Michael Jordan, play write Paul Green, author Mary Pope Osborne, musician Ben Folds, comedian Lewis Black, and Terry Sanford, a US Senator and governor of North Carolina. Musician James Taylor was raised in Chapel Hill, and the rock band The Connells also hail from Chapel Hill.
Annual Events
The Carrboro Music Festival, in nearby Carrboro, takes place in the late summer early fall. The day long, free festival features music at various indoor and outdoor venues. The outdoor sites present music until dark, while some of the indoor venues go until midnight. The 2006 event presented a myriad of musical styles (at 21 venues) with 150 different musical aggregations- ranging in size from solo artists to a seven piece World Music band.
|
|
|
|
|