Of the three major cities in the Triangle, Durham perhaps is the one that carries the most paradoxical images. The city has its origins in tobacco and textiles, yet today it's home to some of the most acclaimed medical institutions and high-tech businesses in the Triangle - indeed, the nation.

The city was named for Dr. Bartlett Durham, who donated four acres of land for a train station in what is now downtown Durham. It took little time for Durham to become a boomtown. Returning home from the Civil War, Washington Duke and his sons established their lucrative cigarette manufacturing facilities here, serving as the foundation of a vast family fortune that funded the Duke Endowment. The financial impact on Durham (in fact, the entire state) made by the Duke family endowment is immeasurable.

The most notable testament to the Duke family's contributions in Durham is Duke University and its world-renowned Medical Center and Health System. Together with Durham Regional Hospital, the VA Medical Center and other health institutions, about one-fourth of Durham's workforce is in a health care-related field. Nearby North Carolina Central University (NCCU) - a historically black institution that offers an array of liberal arts courses - contributes to the academic environment and college atmosphere within the city.

The last of the Durham cigarette manufacturers - Liggett & Myers - relocated to nearby Mebane in 1999. Gone also are the textile and hosiery mills that helped fuel the local economy. So Durham has moved from a blue-collar tobacco town to a city that proudly proclaims itself as the "City of Medicine." Most of the other well-paying jobs in Durham are found in Research Triangle Park (RTP), America's largest research park that is home to corporate giants like IBM, Cisco Systems and GlaxoSmithKline.

The southern half of Durham County, near RTP, has experienced a fast-paced bonanza of new construction in both the residential and commercial arenas. Within the last few years, the N.C. 751/Hope Valley Road corridor between University Drive and Jordan Lake has experienced tremendous growth, with new-home communities springing up seemingly overnight. On I-40 between N.C. 751 and the Fayetteville Road interchanges, development is booming with offices, hotels and even a huge mall - The Streets at Southpoint - which opened in 2002. The mall is anchored by Macys, Hudson Belk, Sears, JCPenney and Nordstrom. Easy access to The Streets at Southpoint via I-40 draws shoppers from other Triangle cities.

From 20-acre horse farms in Bahama and Rougemont north of Durham to lavish mansions in Hope Valley, the city offers a wide variety of neighborhoods to its 198,000 residents. Bounded by Duke University's east campus, Main Street, Northgate Mall and Duke Street is Trinity Park, Durham's first historic neighborhood. Covering 40 square blocks, most homes in Trinity Park were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During the last 25 years, this active community has experienced a renaissance that has set the precedent for historic renovations in other sectors of the city. Other neighborhoods near the Duke University campus - Watts-Hillandale, Duke Park and Trinity Heights - have experienced similar revivals. The demand for homes along the tree-lined streets near Duke remains greater than the supply, resulting in sale prices that escalate each year.

Another desirable in-town neighborhood is Forest Hills, located just south of downtown. There you'll find massive estates with colonial mansions alongside more streamlined Cape Cod designs that surround Forest Hill Park. On most any sunny Saturday afternoon, the park serves as the venue for Frisbee contests, softball and soccer games.

Hope Valley is in the fast-growing southwest Durham area and is Durham's oldest country club community. Homes here date back to the late 1920s and you'll find an eclectic mix of renovated brick ranches to sprawling French country and English Tudor mansions whose values approach $3 million.

Continuing down Hope Valley Road are two newer, very popular (and more affordable) planned communities, Hope Valley Farms and Woodcroft, which offer access to the Research Triangle Park. Hope Valley Farms offers homes from the $190s to more than $300,000 as well as a townhome community. The development also includes walking trails, tennis courts, a playground, pool and clubhouse.

With a variety of housing options, Woodcroft preserves its tall pine and oak trees and also offers Woodcroft Shopping Center, with a grocery store, specialty shops and some of the Triangle's best restaurants.

If golf is your passion, Croasdaile, Willowhaven and Treyburn country clubs (all located north of I-85) each offer 18 holes of championship golf, as do several public golf courses. Previously a family-owned farm, Croasdaile continues to expand its 1,500-acre residential development with a sister community of custom homes, Croasdaile Farms. Encompassing more than 5,300 acres that was once part of North Carolina's largest antebellum plantation, Treyburn is a planned, mixed-use community with 10 residential districts surrounding the Fazio-designed golf course.

Other popular communities include Hardscrabble Plantation (off I-85 at Guess Road) and Tyndrum (off Kerley Road and N.C. 751).

Durham residents can pursue a variety of recreational and cultural attractions. The Durham Bulls, a Triple A International League baseball team, became famous after the hit movie "Bull Durham," starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. The Durham Bulls Athletic Park, patterned after Camden Yards, is easily accessible in downtown off N.C. 147 (Durham Freeway). The park received a facelift in 2003 with new topsoil and Bermuda grass.

Another team synonymous with Durham is the Duke basketball team, which has consistently finished as one of the top teams in the nation since the early '80s. Cameron Indoor Stadium is known for its avid, creative fans.

Page Auditorium on the Duke campus is home to the celebrated American Dance Festival, as well as a Broadway on Tour series. Several plays, including some by Neil Simon, actually debut at Duke before going on to Broadway.

Downtown entertainment offerings include CenterFest, a street arts celebration that attracts 60,000 citizens downtown each September, and live performances in the venerable Carolina Theatre, a beneficiary of a magnificent multimillion-dollar renovation. Complete with an elegant ballroom that's available for private functions, the Carolina Theatre offers concerts and dramatic productions, as well as art films.

With arts and the Bulls as the major drawing cards for a downtown renaissance, many unique specialty shops and restaurants have joined the urban center's list of attractions. Largely centered on the renovated tobacco warehouses known as Brightleaf Square, the area boasts delightful boutiques and restaurants, such as Tavern Nikos, whose chefs have won critical acclaim in a number of national publications.

Mixed-use projects bringing retail and office space downtown makes use of existing buildings through renovation. The former American Tobacco buildings and the old Liggett & Myers buildings are two good examples of this.

Driving west on Main Street past Brightleaf and Duke's east campus, stop for a visit along Ninth Street, home of more specialty shops and restaurants. Magnolia Grill features the culinary delights of chefs Ben and Karen Barker, who have won national awards for their exquisite food and pastries. Directly behind the west side of Ninth Street is Erwin Square, a huge textile mill that's been converted to New York-style loft apartments. Nearby Erwin Square is home to Parizade restaurant and the Mad Hatter, a bakery shop displaying an impressive collection of hats of every description. And nearby Jewelsmith has garnered a substantial local clientele and national recognition for its outstanding jewelry designs.

Once done with lunch, take a drive out Duke Street to the N.C. Museum of Life and Science, a popular destination for families and school groups all over North Carolina. The museum boasts a unique, live butterfly house that entertains hundreds of children and adults alike.

If fresh air and the outdoors are more to your liking, visit the 55-acre Sarah P. Duke Memorial Gardens on Duke's west campus or Eno River State Park, a 2,600-acre park bordering the Eno River. With several access areas to the Eno River, the park is the perfect place for a rafting excursion, and it also offers camping and picnic sites.

A buzzword in Durham seems to be "sustainable growth." That translates to mean maintaining all the desirable qualities that make Durham so attractive, while at the same time encouraging the kind of growth that provides the well-paying jobs, state-of-the-art schools and clean environment that have brought newcomers here all along.

I hope you have enjoyed your tour.  If you are thinking of relocating to Durham please feel free to call me or visit my website at www.TracySantrock.com