Home Tour 2006: Old North Durham

Over 600 people enjoyed a day in Old North Durham during Preservation Durham’s 10th Annual Old Durham Tour. Read more about Old North Durham on our Historic Neighborhoods pages! The May 6, 2006 tour included over a dozen homes built between the 1880s and the 1920s, from Queen Anne mansions to Craftsman bungalows. When Old North Durham was new, Roxboro Road headed north through farmland belonging to the Geers, the Lynches, and the Rigsbees. A building boom began when the streetcar line came up Mangum Street from Downtown to Little Five Points, and Brodie Duke purchased the farmland and subdivided it into suburban lots. After World War I, development continued as bungalows and cottages were built west of Mangum Street. Today, Old North Durham is in the midst of a revival, and visitors could see renovations going on on many homes throughout the neighborhood as they toured the homes open for the tour. The tour included many homes that have been completely restored, but a few, including the Mangum House and the McCracken-Mize House, were works in progress showing tourgoers the high hopes of new homeowners for the potential of their older homes.