What's odd in Chapel Hill / Durham / Carrboro, NC?

September 15, 2007 10:16 AM

What are some of the coolest/oddest things to photograph in the Chapel Hill / Durham / Carrboro, NC area? I'm looking to do a photography project with no human subjects, and want to highlight the weirdest stuff I can find in the area. Things like Clyde Jones's Critters, the old concrete hippo in Bolin Creek, the doll-head car, even the grout-pun men's room on campus... the more minute, obscure, and odd, the better. Ugly is A-OK. I'll photo landmarks, graffiti, vehicles, abandoned things, and maybe even Mark Jacobson, since I don't think he counts as a human subject. Nothing is too stupid to photograph, as long as it's reasonably accessible to the public. I'll head to Durham, Orange, and northern Chatham Co. in search of the bizarre, the off-center, and the just-plain-idiotic.
posted by RossWhite to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

Rathskeler (sp?) is a restaurant on Franklin st--lot of graffiti on the walls that you may like. There's also a graffitied wall down one of the alleys on the side of Franklin closes to the campus (not sure which street it is). Then there's always the bell tower, old well, etc on UNC campus.
posted by uncballzer at 10:50 AM on September 15, 2007

There's that antique coffee machine (or whatever it is) at the Skylight Exchange (down an alley off Rosemary). You could drive out to the Devil's Tramping Ground. There's the Old Chapel Hill Cemetary and Gimghoul Castle. There's some place in Carrboro on Rosemary Street that is, I was told, some kind of ultraChristianprolife hostel for pregnant teens to stay until they give birth and release their child for adoption--it has an oddly creepy sign with a cross and a fetus-in-embryo. It may or may not still be there, on the left as you drive from CH through Carrboro. If you're willing to drive out to Wilson, there's the Windmill Farm of positively enormous whirligigs. Closer to where you'll be is the old dinosaur trail set up by Durham's Museum of Life & Science. Last time I saw them they had holes in them and were obscured by a lot of plant life.
posted by Martin E. at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2007

More weird stuff in NC.
posted by Martin E. at 12:53 PM on September 15, 2007

I don't know if it's still up, but somewhere towards Greensboro on either 40 or 54 (I think), there used to be a billboard for some baptist or pentecostal church that was located on the memorable Booger Swamp Road.

It might be worth driving down Chicken Bridge Rd to the Chicken Bridge itself to see if there's any old pilings left in the Haw, or anything more interesting than just the foundations of the approaches.

"Booger" is an old rural southern word for ghost
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:49 PM on September 15, 2007

From circa three years ago, I remember a front yard full of weird metal sculptures on Main Street in Carrboro, I think, near the corner of Fidelity. Around the corner on West Poplar is a very overgrown front yard with all sorts of plants and flowers. (A very popular yoga teacher lived there with his family; if still there, they are very nice and not at all the type to be weirded out by strangers taking pictures of their yard, I'm sure.)
posted by clavicle at 4:05 PM on September 15, 2007

giant daniel boone in hillsborough. get off I-85 and you can't miss him.
posted by kidsleepy at 4:50 PM on September 15, 2007

I've been wanting to go find this castle in Rougemont (northern Orange County).
posted by Stewriffic at 5:24 PM on September 15, 2007

WAIT! There's also a house in Raleigh (if you're willing to go all the way to Wake County) that has two life-sized African American mannequins, dressed as bride and groom, standing in a gazebo. On the roof of the same house, there's a ginormous "Jesus Saves" (or something like that) spelled out in Christmas lights. If you want, shoot me an email and I'll try to drive by it and get the address next week.
posted by Stewriffic at 5:30 PM on September 15, 2007

Oh dear. I should just keep this open for good, as it seems that new things keep occurring to me.

Along the Bolin creek trail in Carrboro (access is easy from Wilson park off of N. Greensboro just N of Estes), there's an old, black 1950s (?) era American car that was abandoned. I think it's pretty cool.

Also, at the trails at Jordan Lake where you can see eagles, there's an old, abandoned tobacco barn. It's actually toward the end of the trail, but the eagles are really cool, so it's worth the hike. The barn is off to the right of the trail, and as you lead up to it there's a PILE of old trash. It's mostly bottles and cans, but they're old. Last I went, the actual barns were cool, too, and had old (circa 1960s?) newspapers in situ that I took some pix of a couple of years ago.

I love this area.
posted by Stewriffic at 5:37 PM on September 15, 2007

"fetus-in-embryo"? I meant fetus-in-uterus.
posted by Martin E. at 5:39 PM on September 15, 2007

Check out this church on Duke University Road (or maybe West Chapel Hill Road? the name changes at some point) - somewhere in between Duke's campus and the Durham Food Coop. The church (which I don't recall being particularly churchy in its architecture) has a window overlooking the street in which you'll find a sign with a pretty classic misspelling. Also check out the busted phone on the side of that building.

Otherwise, try the Anti-Mall, the Skylight Exchange, or Ringside -- all of them are weird places that might be a little too people-oriented for your project, but will put you on the right path for sure.
posted by greggish at 7:06 PM on September 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seconding the Anti-Mall. I've never been inside, but just the outside ought to keep you occupied for a while. And I'd second the Rathskellar as well- just be prepared for some terrible food, it's gone downhill recently.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:13 PM on September 15, 2007

If you can make it to Thomasville, NC, there is an enormous chair.

The Duke gardens are nice, albeit not weird or anything.

Durham is home to The World's Greatest Church.

And of course, the old Bull Durham stadium is there.
posted by 4ster at 5:58 PM on September 16, 2007