My daughter and son in law (both physicians) accepted jobs at Duke and we will be moving there in 6 weeks. I say we, as I will be going too as I am the primary caregiver for my 3 year old grandson. They bought a house in Cary and both will be working at Duke Raleigh, and SIL will be at the main campus a couple of days a week as well. They have already got a preschool for my grandson so that is taken care of. I would love if anybody has tips on anything in the area, from restaurants or basically anything. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but they will need a lawn care service ASAP as they are closing in 5 days and will need that right away. TIA.
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Have them ask their real estate agent for a couple of landscaper options.
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I hate to even mention it, but . . . have them join Nextdoor and either search for previous recommendations or ask there.
We move frequently for spouse’s job and I really detest Nextdoor, but I do find it helpful for recommendations when I’m new in an area.
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For any services, they might ask the sellers of the home they are buying who they used. Also second Nextdoor, although it is hard to slog thru all the nonsense there.
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The house was staged, so they never met the previous owners. They bought the house without seeing it! The realtor did a FaceTime with them for a walkthrough, and they made a bid immediately and ended up paying 35k over list. They went down and saw it for the first time 2 weeks ago and have no regrets.
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If the previous owners are not in contact, they could ask their new neighbors about local services (lawn care, electricians, etc.), That’s where we’ve often gotten recommendations when we’ve moved. And, yeah, Nextdoor – which is unpleasant for all the reasons mentioned above but very useful for this kind of thing.
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They have all the chains - it depends where they live. Even Durham is big from a downtown to the North to the wealthy Southpoint Mall to the south where folks for Duke and UNC live.
Last time my cousin and I went to Ted’s Montana Grill but like every area there’s chains and independents. Firebirds (at the mal) is always a great meal.
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Check the website for the town of Cary for Cary specific information. Classes, free town events, local information.
https://www.carync.gov/
Cary downtown park has a fantastic playground for children and a nice dog park as well. Worth a look.
Raleigh has its own park, Dorothea Dix Park with a lot of things for kids and adults. They have a sunflower field that should be perfect to visit right about now.
There are many good restaurants in the area — local specialty ones and chains. The city of Durham has some great places as does Chapel Hill. Raleigh has plenty but the places are also quite spread out from the downtown area to many other social districts.
There is an area (North Hills) not far from Duke Raleigh that has some really nice restaurants.
Cary also has some nice restaurants — check out Fenton at Cary.
Nextdoor, or immediate neighbors are the best bet to find landscaping firms if the realtor doesn’t have any suggestions.
Hope this helps.
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My husband has family there. I’ll see what I can find out!
Research Triangle refers to Research Triangle Park (RTP) the business park where a lot of tech/biotech firms are. The Raleigh/Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill/Carrboro area is The Triangle (no Research). (RDU only refers to the airport, btw, and we never say Raleigh-Durham – they are two very distinct cities.)
Cary is generally regarded as a very safe community. Has a rep of being a bit beige (like literally the color beige – they have strict town ordinances about the look of the town) and boring, but it is a super popular family-friendly city. The joke is Cary stands for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees because so many people from NY and NJ moved down and settled there – so many folks from the northeast that Di Fara’s pizza (the real deal from Brooklyn) opened a branch in Cary! It’s a little more diverse now with Californians and international folks too. But there will be PLENTY of other newcomers to get to know. It’s not a very old North Carolina kinda place. It’s a new North Carolina kinda place (rampant growth, lots of newcomers).
I’d ask the realtor or the neighbors (in person, I avoid NextDoor) about lawn care. I’m sure they will have some recommendations. You could probably just ask a landscaping company doing work in the neighborhood too. There will probably be plenty. I see them all the time.
Cary has a lot of great international restaurants. Bosphorus is a highly rated Turkish restaurant Lucky 32 has a good rep for Southern eats. Brigs is another popular one – pretty family friendly American eats. Sassool is Mediterranean. Other good ones are Szechuan Mansion Hotpot, Saffron Indian, La Farm Bakery, Bond Brothers Beer Company, Kababish Cafe for Indian (for more Indian go to nearby Morrisville which has a plurality South Asian population, 46%, that is mostly Indian). There’s an H-Mart in Cary, too, which is a great place to find Asian groceries and has a very yummy food court!
Raleigh just opened an amazing 18.5 acre playground in Dix Park downtown called Gipson Play Plaza that would be worth checking out with the family. I have not been since my kids are grown, but it looks really cool! Gipson Play Plaza | Dix Park
And Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh is great for toddlers and little kids. I think he is the perfect age for Marbles. https://www.marbleskidsmuseum.org
I really like the Museum of Life & Science in Durham. It’s 84 acres of amazing science-oriented hands on fun stuff. I think about 5-10 is the sweet spot there, but they have stuff for 3 year olds too. Definitely worth getting an annual membership at some point. They are adding new stuff all the time. One of my fave places to take my kids when they were young. https://www.lifeandscience.org
Raleigh has a really cool free science museum downtown, too, but it’s a little less hands-on and definitely not 84 acres of cool stuff.
The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh is free (although you can be a member and get free access to tickets exhibits). It has extensive grounds and a lot of people go there just for the walking trails. It’s really nice.
Hope that helps! And welcome to North Carolina!
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wow tons of helpful info!! @CottonTales if you have any other specific questions, am happy to ask our relatives who live there (they moved down from Boston many years ago).
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