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via a website hosted by
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For more information about Preservation Durham
please contact our office at (919)-682-3036 or by email
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2009 Tour Explored Morehead Hill May 2
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS
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Preservation Durham members and friends gathered on Saturday, May 2, 2009, for the 13th Annual Old Durham Tour of Morehead Hill.
Homes on the tour covered a wide range of styles that are uniquely juxtaposed in Morehead Hill. From an 1890s Queen Anne to a 1950s stylish ranch, the neighborhood is full of interesting architecture and family histories. Tourgoers learned about the industrialists who built these lovely homes, the urban pioneers who preserved them, and the people who live here today, able to walk downtown for shopping and coffee, dinner, or a ball game.
Tourgoers enjoy Preservation Durham's annual tour at their own pace, exploring year by year the many neighborhoods that make Durham unique. Each building on the tour is staffed by friendly and well-informed docents to make the tour more interesting and enjoyable. Present your tourbook at the door and collect marks from all the houses you visit!
Join us in 2010 when the Tour Returns to Hope Valley! |
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 THANKS TO TOUR SPONSORS !
RELATED EVENTS
- April 15: Lunch and Learn: Lost and Found: The Impact of "Progress" on Morehead Hill Tosca Ristorante Italiano, 11:30am. Durham historians Andrew Edmonds and Gary Kueber tell the fascinating story of how Morehead Hill survived Urban Renewal in the 1960s. $19 for Preservation Durham Members, $17 for senior members, $25 for others. Reserve a seat by Monday, April 13.
- April 24: Tour Kick-Off Party at Hill House. 6:30-8:30pm. 900 S., Duke Street. Join Preservation Durham members and friends to meet and mingle with the tour homeowners, sponsors, and volunteers who make the tour possible! Reservations required. Tickets are $60 for Preservation Durham members and include admission to the tour on Saturday, May 2. If you're not a member yet, add $25 to your party ticket and join Preservation Durham now! To receive an invitation to the Kick-Off Party, contact the Preservation Durham office at (919)-682-3036 or email.
- April 28: Stories and Legends of Morehead Hill. 7:00pm, Auditorium at Duke's Physician Assistant Program, 800 S. Duke Street (former Blue Cross Bldg.). Park in the rear, enter from Morehead or Proctor Street.. Learn firsthand about Morehead Hill from long-time residents and local historians. This event is FREE and no reservations are required. Tour tickets will be available for purchase.
BE A TOUR VOLUNTEER! Preservation Durham needs an army of volunteers to put on the Old Durham Tour. Work behind the scenes on one of our organizing committees or be a house captain or docent on the day of the tour. Use our Volunteer Information Form, call the Preservation Durham office at (919)-682-3036, or contact Andrew Edmonds by email.
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| About Morehead Hill
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Morehead Hill was named after Eugene Morehead built his house on the highest point southwest of downtown Durham. In the early 20th century, farmer William Gaston Vickers saw opportunity in Durham's rapid growth, laid out streets and built a hundred rental houses on his land. The tour house at 907 Jackson is typical of Vickers' original houses with its three-sided bay window and wrap-around porch.
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Vickers also sold property in large lots to the up and coming businessmen who were making it big in Durham. By the early 1910s, Morehead Hill undoubtedly was THE neighborhood in Durham, with some large houses occupying entire blocks. The popular Colonial Revival style soon dominated the streetscape of Morehead Hill, inlcuding tour houses in the 900 and 1000 blocks of Vickers Avenue.
More modest bungalows are also interspersed among the Colonial Revival style houses. The Hackney Nicholson House at 901 Vickers is a fine example with many original features. Other period revival style houses provide accents, such as the Tudor style Budd House at 903 S. Duke St. Morehead Hill remained a desirable place to live after WW II, when builders experimented with unusual forms, such as the round houses in the 1000 block of S. Duke St. and the moderne style ranch house at 1212 Hill St.
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Morehead Hill met change when the construction of the East-West Expressway in the early 1970s cut it off from West End and Downtown, taking in the process many houses. Quiet Parker St. was turned into an onramp for the Freeway. S. Duke St. and Vickers Ave. became major one-way traffic corridors.
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The decline of adjacent working class neighborhoods and the replacement of tobacco company housing with commercial and service businesses, combined with the swath of expressway, encouraged the conversion of some of Morehead Hill's most exclusive early residential property into office buildings and higher density housing.
Despite these developments, Morehead Hill today recalls its elegant heyday with large tree-shaded lots surrounding classic homes. Many homes here have been preserved and updated, and although some have been turned into commecial property including apartments, law offices, and bed and breakfast inns, others are being updated for modern family living. Residents here can enjoy a quiet residential neighborhood that is within easy walking distance of the new excitement of Downtown Durham with its shopping, restaurants, American Tobacco Campus, ballpark and new performing arts center.
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| Archives and Tour Pictures
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2002
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2001
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1999
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1997
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