Raleigh, until relatively recently an obscure city, now sits high in the rankings on every list of best places to live in America. Due to all this buzz, Wake County (of which Raleigh is the biggest city) sees an average of 62 people moving in daily, per Wake County statistics.

If you’re one of those people and know nothing about Raleigh and the Triangle at large, then allow me to help you learn about our ways! I moved here in 2016 and have fallen in love with it.

What is the Triangle?

The Triangle gets its name from Research Triangle Park (called RTP), a research park in the center of the metropolitan area encompassing Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill (the three points of the Triangle). The farthest border towns of the Triangle are debated but some of the towns that are always included in the Triangle (aside from the three primary cities) are Cary, Wake Forest, Fuquay-Varina (simply called Fuquay), Apex, Morrisville, and Carrboro among others.

Photo by Curtis Adams from Pexels

Sports Galore

The importance of sports in the Triangle, especially college sports, cannot be overstated. While all sports are popular here, having three major universities, Duke, UNC, and NC State, college basketball has pride of place. Aside from basketball, North Carolina has a rich baseball history.

My favorite Triangle team, the Carolina Hurricanes, is an NHL team that plays at PNC Arena, known as “the loudest house in the NHL,” which is just a short walk away from Camden Asbury Village. The Durham Bulls, a Triple-A baseball team that plays just two blocks away from Camden Durham, have the most fun games to attend, even if you aren’t a baseball fan. Two soccer teams play at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NCFC, a USL League One team, and NC Courage, an NWSL team.

Triangle Culture

As with any city, there are many things to know about its culture when you move there. Here are a few important ones to us.

While North Carolina may not be unique in having a strong craft beer culture, we certainly love it as much as anybody! The Brewer’s Association lists North Carolina as having the 10th most breweries of any state in the country with many of them in the Triangle. If you’re going to a brewery, event, festival, or even if you just listen to your Camden apartments announcements, you’re likely to find a food truck.

Are you a foodie? Food & Wine Magazine ranked Raleigh in 2023 as the 10th best food truck city in the country and if you live here long, you’ll see why.

Next up, getting outside, who doesn’t love that!? With our handy greenway system and city, county, and state parks in the area it is easy to find ways to enjoy the great outdoors! Sitting outside at a restaurant, bar, or coffee shop is also a lot of fun and most places have outdoor seating as it’s extremely popular here. Lastly, our location in the relative center of the state makes both the mountains and the beach accessible. Many people make regular day trips to the beach with the nearest beach about two hours away. The mountains are a little farther away, but many people turn mountain trips into weekend getaways.

Where to Live

There are many great apartments in the Triangle in many great locations! If you want easy access to the greenway and mall, then Camden Manor Park is the spot for you. If you want to have easy access or to be able to walk to watch soccer, NCSU football/basketball, or the biggest concert/hockey venue this side of the state, then Camden Asbury Village is the place to be.

Camden Westwood, Camden Lake Pine, and the upcoming Camden Village District all have easy walkable access to shopping and restaurants. Camden Carolinian is in downtown Raleigh, and Camden Durham is in the heart of downtown Durham.

Camden Governor’s Village is in Chapel Hill, making it easy to visit the campus, Franklin Street, or any UNC sports games. Camden Crest is the quickest and simplest drive to shopping, dining, and Umstead State Park you can get. Camden Reunion Park is in a relatively undiscovered area, making it a pretty quiet spot. Lastly, Camden Overlook is right off Glenwood Avenue, making it just down one street to get to Glenwood South, a popular district downtown.

Make a Raleigh Camden Community Your New Home

The Triangle, especially Raleigh, in my not-so-humble opinion, is a great area to live! There is always more to do and cool new places to visit. Almost everybody you’ll meet here is a transplant, so everybody is still looking to meet new people or at least they remember what it was like moving to the area having no friends. While it can be a daunting task to try to meet people, keep that in mind, everyone around you has been or is in your place.

If you need some advice making new friends in your new home, here is part one and part two of my blog helping you out with that endeavor. I hope you come to love it here as much as I have!