Live in Grove Park
A suburb of houses built mostly since 2000 on the city's eastern edge, where the line between the City of Durham and the unincorporated County runs through the development and Little Lick Creek's floodway runs through the middle of it.
Grove Park, on this page, is the City of Durham's 639 acres of a 905-acre area its own Neighborhoods layer draws on the east side, along Wake Forest Highway (NC 98) between Holder Road and Stallings Road: 2,641 residents in 1,033 housing units at the 2020 census, with 459 more residents of the same area living outside the city limits in unincorporated Durham County. It is a suburb of recent houses: in the census tract that holds most of its residents, the Census Bureau estimates more than three in four homes were built after 2000 and more than nine in ten are owner-occupied. Little Lick Creek runs through it, 21.7% of the guide's ground is in FEMA's special flood hazard area, and 129 residents of 2020 lived on blocks whose point falls in the creek's floodway. The County's East Regional Library is inside the line, and the nearest GoDurham stop is about a kilometer from the guide's reference point.
A twenty-first century suburb with the city line running through it
The City's share of one area on the City of Durham's Neighborhoods layer (Grove Park, OBJECTID 95 of the Reference map service the City publishes for its Cityworks work-order system), which carries no published date, author or definition of a neighborhood, clipped to the current City limits: 639 of the feature's 905 acres are inside the city and the rest is unincorporated Durham County, where 459 of the feature's 2020 residents live and are not counted here. It is not an association's territory or a plat. Traced on the City's street centerlines, Wake Forest Highway runs along the guide for about 1.9 km, Holder Road for about 1.4 km and Stallings Road for about 660 m, with short stretches of South Mineral Springs Road and Oak Grove Parkway; Nichols Farm Drive, Oak Grove Parkway, Southshore Parkway, Guy Walker Way, Northlake Drive and Lick Creek Lane run through it. OpenStreetMap divides the development into named sections (Bellemeade, Lakeside, Linkside, Northlake, Southshore and Waters Edge) that this guide does not use as lines. The whole guide is in Durham County, Durham Public Schools, City Council Ward 2 and the 27703 ZIP code.
Grove Park, on this page, is the City of Durham's share of an area the City's own Neighborhoods layer draws on the east side, along Wake Forest Highway (NC 98) between Holder Road and Stallings Road. The City keeps that layer for its own work orders and publishes no date, author or definition for it, so the line is not an association's territory, and this guide claims nothing about where residents think Grove Park ends. Of the area's 905 acres, 639 are inside the city limits. They held 2,641 residents in 1,033 housing units at the 2020 census; another 459 residents of the same area lived outside the limits, in unincorporated Durham County, and are not counted here. It is not any other city's Grove Park.
The first question is which side of the line a house is on. Inside the city the bill carries the County's 57.92 cents and the City's 43.71 per $100, 101.63 cents together for fiscal 2027, and the house gets City services; outside it, the County's rate and services apply instead, and this guide does not cover those houses. The street a house is on does not settle it, so look the parcel up in the County's tax records before you offer. Inside the city the values are the 1 January 2025 revaluation's, which stand until 2029 unless a house is new or rezoned, so the seller's bill is the guide to the first one. Stormwater comes on the City utility bill, $5.70 to $23.64 a month. Whether a house carries homeowners association dues, and how much, was not read: ask.
The second is the creek. Little Lick Creek runs through the guide, and on the City's flood-insurance layer 21.7% of the ground is in FEMA's special flood hazard area, 14.7% of it floodway. By 2020 block point, 129 residents lived on blocks in the floodway and 161 more in the County's 1% future-conditions zone, which the City uses in development review. FEMA puts the reference point itself in zone X, minimal hazard, on a panel of 2018. A block point is not an address: read FEMA's map at the house, and remember that any land disturbance in a mapped floodplain, a fence or a shed included, needs a floodplain development permit. No flood history of the creek was read for this guide.
What the houses are. The Census Bureau's survey for tract 18.08, which holds 1,584 of the residents, estimates that about four in five of its homes were built after 2000, more than half in the 2010s, and that more than nine in ten occupied homes are owner-occupied; tract 18.11, with the other 1,057, was built mostly from the 1980s to the 2000s. Those are tract figures, larger than the guide, with wide margins. The development carries OpenStreetMap section names, Lakeside, Linkside, Northlake, Southshore, Waters Edge and Bellemeade, and the County's East Regional Library, opened in 2006 as its first regional branch, sits in Lakeside. No sale price is published for the guide: Zillow's $379,924 for August 2026 is the whole 27703 ZIP.
Day to day, it is a driving suburb. The nearest GoDurham stop, on route 16 at Mineral Springs Road and Wake Forest Highway, is about a kilometer from the reference point, and none is inside the line; route 16 runs every 30 minutes at midday, fare-free through June 2027. The nearest supermarket is the Food Lion on Sherron Road. Downtown is about 11 km west by road, Raleigh-Durham International about 15, and Research Triangle Park, which is not in the city and which Durham may not annex, about 14.
- Look the parcel up in the County's tax records to see whether it is inside the City of Durham
- Read FEMA's flood map at the address, not the block, and ask about flood insurance before you offer
- Ask the seller for the association's dues and rules; they were not read here
- Run the exact address through the Durham School Locator: Oak Grove runs a year-round calendar
- Read the seller's bill: the 2025 value stays until 2029 at 101.63 cents per $100 inside the city
How Grove Park got here
- 2000The building decade begins. In census tract 18.08, which holds 1,584 of the guide's 2020 residents, the American Community Survey estimates 1,211 homes were built from 2000 to 2009, against about 900 in all the decades before.
- 2006The East Regional Library opens on 16 June at 211 Lick Creek Lane, in the Lakeside section, the first regional library in the Durham County Library system and a LEED-certified building.
- 2010The busiest decade: the same survey estimates 2,592 of tract 18.08's 4,859 homes were built from 2010 to 2019. In tract 18.11, which holds the other 1,057 residents, building peaked in the 2000s.
- 2018FEMA's new flood maps for Durham take effect on 19 October, after the City Council adopted them for development review on 4 September; the panel at the guide's reference point is one of them, and the creek's floodway covers 14.7% of the guide's area.
- 2019The City rises to Class 7 in FEMA's Community Rating System, raising the discount on flood insurance in the special flood hazard area from 10% to 15% for policies renewed from 1 October.
- 2020The census counts 2,641 residents in the city's part of the area and 459 in the County's.
- 2025Durham Public Schools' new middle and high school boundaries begin in the 2025-26 school year, and lottery access to Neal Middle, the guide's middle school, ends. On 1 January Durham County revalues every parcel to market value, the first reappraisal since 2019.
- 2026The County raises its rate 2.5 cents to 57.92 and the City holds 43.71, a combined 101.63 cents per $100 for fiscal 2027; the district's zone service already carries a 2027-28 set.
The creek runs through it, and the City parks are a drive away
No City park is inside the line or within 2.5 km of the reference point on the City's parks layer. The nearest is Birchwood Park on Hursey Street, 4.9 acres without a playground; the largest nearby is Twin Lakes Park on Chandler Road, 74 acres with a playground, about 4.5 km by road. Falls Lake is about 9 km north. The open ground inside the guide is mostly the corridor of Little Lick Creek, and whatever lake, trails or pool the development has belongs to it, not to the City; none of that was read.
What the map does not show: the parks layer holds City parks only, so a County or private open space would not appear on it. The photograph here is West Point on the Eno, about 14 km northwest, not a place in this guide.
Elsewhere in Durham, not Grove Park
24 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 24 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from the population-weighted center of the guide's 2020 census blocks inside the city, beside the East Regional Library, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
None of the City's eight recreation centers or four pools is in the east of the city. The nearest center is Holton in Old East Durham, about 8 km by road; the nearest indoor pool is at Campus Hills on South Alston Avenue, about 10 km, and the outdoor pool at Hillside is about 11 km. The development's own facilities and any private gym were not read.
- Holton Career & Resource Center, 401 North Driver Street: the nearest City center
- Campus Hills Pool, 2000 South Alston Avenue: indoor
- Hillside Pool, 1221 Sawyer Street: outdoor and seasonal
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Holton Career & Resource Center open | 401 North Driver Street in Old East Durham: the nearest of Durham Parks and Recreation's eight recreation centers. None is in the east of the city near the guide. | 10–15 min |
| Campus Hills Pool open | 2000 South Alston Avenue, at the I. R. Holmes, Sr. Recreation Center: the nearer of the City's two indoor pools. | 11–17 min |
| Hillside Pool open | 1221 Sawyer Street: the City's outdoor pool that opened in 2026, from 10 June. Forest Hills Pool stayed closed. | 12–19 min |
| Edison Johnson Aquatic Center open | 500 West Murray Avenue, north Durham: the City's other indoor pool. | 14–22 min |
The free option is the streets themselves and the benches in front of the library.
One zone at every level, and a year-round elementary
Durham Public Schools assigns by the zone of the home. On the district's 2026-27 layer the point and every resident of 2020 are zoned for Oak Grove Elementary, 0.75 km away (C for 2024-25, D for 2023-24), whose zone runs a year-round calendar; Neal Middle (D both years), where the district ended lottery seats from 2025-26; and Southern High (D both years), which also holds the district's STEM program. No school-level 2025-26 grade was found, and the district already carries a 2027-28 zone set, so zones are moving.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Oak Grove Elementary School | Durham Public Schools | The point is zoned for Oak Grove Elementary on the district's 2026-27 zone layer, and so are all 2,641 residents of 2020. It is at 3810 Wake Forest Road, 0.75 km from the point in a straight line, and its zone runs a year-round calendar, so a family zoned there may ask for an opt-out transfer to a traditional-calendar school in the East region. NC School Performance Grades: C for 2024-25, D for 2023-24, with growth that exceeded expectations in 2024-25; no school-level 2025-26 grade was found. The district already carries a 2027-28 zone set, so zones are moving. |
| Neal Middle School | Durham Public Schools | The 2026-27 middle school zone for all 2,641 residents, at 201 Baptist Road, 2.63 km from the point. Graded D for 2024-25 and 2023-24. The district ended lottery access to Neal from 2025-26. |
| Southern High School | Durham Public Schools | The 2026-27 high school zone for all 2,641 residents, at 800 Clayton Road, 2.97 km from the point. It also holds the district's STEM program, open by application to every region. Graded D for 2024-25 and 2023-24. |
| East region application programs | Durham Public Schools | By the district's region layer, East region families may apply to Little River (Montessori), Merrick-Moore (dual language) and W. G. Pearson (year-round) elementary schools, Lakewood or Lucas Montessori, Shepard IB and Brogden dual language middle schools, and at high school Hillside IB, Durham School of the Arts and four early colleges. Programs fill by application. |
Run the exact address through the Durham School Locator before you commit. A family zoned for a year-round school may ask for an opt-out transfer to a traditional-calendar school in the East region, and East region families may apply to Little River Montessori, Merrick-Moore dual language, Hillside IB and Durham School of the Arts.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Highs near 11.1 °C and lows near -0.1 °C at Raleigh-Durham International on the 1991 to 2020 normals, with 18 nights at or below freezing, the most of any month
- 6.6 cm of snow on the January normal, the snowiest month of a year that averages 13.2 cm
- The County's 2025 bills could be paid without penalty through 5 January 2026; check the date on your own bill
- Highs near 13.2 °C, 13.8 freezing nights and 3.6 cm of snow on the normal
- Ice on Wake Forest Highway is the commute question: route 16 is the only GoDurham service near the guide
- The Durham Farmers' Market keeps its winter Saturday hours, 9 a.m. to noon, at Durham Central Park downtown
- Highs near 17.4 °C, 104 mm of rain and 7.8 freezing nights on the normal
- Little Lick Creek's floodway covers 14.7% of the guide's area; check any address on FEMA's own map, not by the block
- Durham Public Schools' application programs take their families by application; the region decides which a family may apply to
- Highs near 22.6 °C and 1.1 freezing nights on the normal, the last of the season
- The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival runs downtown, about 11 km west by road, from 1 to 4 April 2027
- The Farmers' Market moves to its main-season Saturday hours, 8 a.m. to noon
- Highs near 26.7 °C and lows near 14.3 °C on the normal, with 2.8 days at or above 32 °C
- 86 mm of rain on the May normal
- No City park is within 2.5 km of the point; Twin Lakes Park, 74 acres with a playground, is about 4.5 km by road
- Highs near 30.8 °C and 12.1 days at or above 32 °C on the normal
- The County and the City adopt the next year's rates: in 2026 the County on 8 June and the City on 15 June
- The East Regional Library opened on 16 June 2006
- The hottest month, highs near 32.7 °C with 18.6 days at or above 32 °C on the normal
- 128 mm of rain on the July normal, much of it in afternoon storms that raise the creek fast
- Oak Grove Elementary runs a year-round calendar, so its families do not get the usual long summer break; check the district's calendar
- Highs near 31.5 °C and 120 mm of rain on the normal
- In 2025 the County mailed its property tax bills on 12 August
- The bill is the County's 57.92 cents and the City's 43.71 per $100 on the 2025 value, not on the price you paid
- The wettest month at the airport, 131 mm on the normal, with highs near 28.1 °C
- Property tax is due on 1 September; in 2025 it could be paid without penalty through 5 January
- CenterFest fills downtown on a September weekend; the 2026 festival ran on 19 and 20 September and the 2027 dates are not posted
- Highs near 22.8 °C and 86 mm of rain on the normal
- Southern High School and Neal Middle hold the guide's secondary zones; the district carries a 2027-28 zone set already, so check before the next application season
- The Farmers' Market's Wednesday market ends on 15 October
- Highs near 17.2 °C and 7.8 freezing nights on the normal
- 84 mm of rain on the normal
- Leaves in the storm drains matter here: the stormwater fee on the City utility bill runs $5.70 to $23.64 a month by impervious area
- Highs near 12.6 °C, 15.4 freezing nights and 2 cm of snow on the normal
- The Durham Holiday Parade comes down Main Street downtown on Saturday 12 December 2026 at 10 a.m., rain or shine
- If you bought this year, read your first bill against the 2025 assessment, which stays until the 2029 reappraisal unless the house is new or rezoned
4 more photographs of Durham and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Durham photo library, not photographs of Grove Park itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–4 of 4 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images from the site's shared Durham library, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. None of them is presented as a photograph of Grove Park.