Live in Oakwood
Raleigh's first local historic district, where a house, its fence, its steps and its driveway all need the City's certificate before the outside changes.
Oakwood is the only nineteenth century neighborhood left intact in Raleigh, and it is intact because it was passed over: the 1974 National Register nomination says a depressed economy preserved it until 1971, and when a thoroughfare was announced through it in 1972 the residents organized and used preservation law to stop it. The City zoned it Raleigh's first historic overlay district in 1975. That overlay is the thing a buyer is choosing: the Raleigh Historic Development Commission reviews every exterior change, and major work usually takes 10 to 14 weeks to clear. In return the streetscape the 1974 nomination described is still standing, and the county assesses the median single-family parcel inside the overlay at $902,890, with a median land value alone of $570,000.
Saved by being passed over, and kept by a certificate
The local historic overlay, as the City of Raleigh describes it: Person Street approximates the western edge; Oakwood Cemetery and the rear lot lines east of Linden Street form most of the eastern; rear lot lines north of parts of North Boundary and East Franklin streets form the northern; and an extension carries the district south across East Edenton Street and New Bern Avenue to just below Morson Street. The National Register district of the same name is drawn wider, and the two boundaries carry different rules.
Oakwood grew lot by lot on Mordecai Grove, the woods Moses Mordecai bought in 1819 and his family sold off after the Civil War. The cemetery came first, dedicated in 1869, and the neighborhood took its name. Four of the eleven or so houses standing by 1872 survive. R. S. Pullen built the brick houses on Elm Street through the 1880s, Polk Street was rebuilt in classical dress between 1909 and 1914, and bungalows filled the gaps. The City's essay on the district describes what that left: narrow lots, houses close to the sidewalk and to each other, granite curbs, and the most varied ground of any historic district in Raleigh.
It survived because nobody wanted it. The 1974 National Register nomination says a depressed economy preserved the neighborhood until 1971, when people began restoring houses. In 1972 a thoroughfare was announced through the middle of it. The residents, many of them the LGBTQ+ owners the City credits with the fight, formed the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood and used preservation law against the road. The Register listing came in 1974, and in 1975 the City zoned Oakwood its first historic overlay district. The Society dates that to 1974; the City's zoning record, case Z-18-1975, says 1975.
Two boundaries, and only one of them has rules. The local overlay held 995 residents at the 2020 census; the National Register district, drawn wider and enlarged three times since, held 1,414. The Register listing is recognition and a route to tax credits. The overlay is zoning: a certificate of appropriateness is required before exterior work on buildings, fences, light fixtures, steps, pavement and signs, and only repair that changes nothing is exempt. Staff approve minor work; new buildings, demolition and large additions go to the Raleigh Historic Development Commission's committee, and usually take 10 to 14 weeks. The commission cannot refuse a demolition unless the building has statewide significance, but it can delay one for up to 365 days.
What it costs is mostly the lot. Wake County's parcel file puts 390 single-family parcels inside the overlay, assessed at a median of $902,890 on the 2024 revaluation, with a median land value of $570,000 on a median lot of 0.13 acres. The median house was built in 1915, and 325 of the 390 date from 1941 or earlier. At the combined rate of 90.91 cents per $100, the median assessment carries a bill of about $8,208 a year, and Wake revalues on 1 January 2027 (the citywide figures are on the Raleigh page). What is not known is a sale price. The county's file mixes market sales with transfers such as one house recorded at $8,000 in April 2025, and no public source publishes a qualified median for the district, so this guide gives none.
The rules come with a credit. North Carolina returns 15% of a homeowner's qualifying rehabilitation spending as a state tax credit, on work over $10,000 and up to $150,000 of expenses, so at most $22,500. Contributing houses in a Register district or in Raleigh's certified local districts qualify, if the work meets the federal rehabilitation standards. Downtown is a quarter hour on foot, and New Bern Avenue, at the overlay's southern tip, is being rebuilt for bus rapid transit.
- Check the parcel on the City's iMaps: the overlay and the Register district differ, and only the overlay requires a certificate
- Read the design guidelines and call the commission's staff before offering on a house you mean to add to
- Ask which past exterior work had a certificate; the City takes after-the-fact applications
- If the house contributes, price in the 15% state credit and consult the State Historic Preservation Office before work starts
- Budget for the land: the median land value inside the overlay is $570,000, and Wake revalues on 1 January 2027
- Check the school assignment by exact address; the block below New Bern Avenue has different schools
How Oakwood got here
- 1792The City is laid out on a grid bounded by North, South, East and West Streets. Oakwood's oldest houses stand in the northeast corner of that plan, south of North and Lane streets and west of East Street.
- 1819Moses Mordecai buys the wooded tract northeast of the city that becomes known as Mordecai Grove. It is sold off in parcels after the Civil War.
- 1869Oakwood Cemetery is dedicated on land bought from the Mordecais around a Confederate burial ground begun in 1867. The neighborhood takes its name from the cemetery on its eastern edge.
- 1872About eleven houses stand in what is now the district. Four of them survive, including the Hoke-Broughton House and the Streng-Stronach House, both built about 1871.
- 1881The city limits are pushed out to North Boundary Street and Swain Street, taking in the whole of the present district. R. S. Pullen builds the brick houses on Elm Street known as Pullentown between 1881 and 1891.
- 1909A building boom on three blocks of Polk Street, running to 1914, replaces or remodels older houses as large Neo-Classical Revival residences. Bungalows fill the remaining gaps in the 1920s and 1930s.
- 1972A major thoroughfare is announced through the heart of the neighborhood. Residents who had begun buying and restoring houses in 1970 and 1971 form the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood to fight it, and the road is never built.
- 1974The Oakwood Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is enlarged by the Linden Avenue amendment in 1987, the South amendment in 1988 and the North amendment in 1989.
- 1975The City zones Oakwood its first historic overlay district, under zoning case Z-18-1975. The Society's own history dates the local designation to 1974; the City's zoning record and its district essay both say 1975.
- 1980sNew building resumes under the commission's design review, including the 23-lot Oakwood Green subdivision on the site of the former Fallon's greenhouses overlooking the cemetery.
- 2017The current Design Guidelines for Raleigh Historic Districts and Landmarks take effect on 8 May, replacing guidelines adopted in the 1970s and revised in 1983 and 2001.
- 2026Construction on the New Bern Avenue bus rapid transit line is under way between East Street, at the district's southern tip, and Sunnybrook Road, on the corridor to WakeMed.
Oakwood Cemetery is the open space, and it keeps cemetery hours
The largest open space is Oakwood Cemetery: 72 acres along the eastern edge, dedicated in 1869 and still selling plots, with grounds open every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and to 6 p.m. under daylight saving time. Inside the district the City's essay counts two parks no bigger than a building lot or two, Vallie Henderson Garden and Oakwood Common. To the northwest, Mordecai Historic Park keeps the Mordecai House of about 1785, the Andrew Johnson birthplace and St. Mark's Chapel on 3.2 acres, open dawn to dusk.
What the map does not show: none of it is a playing field. The nearest City fields and courts are at Lions Park on Dennis Avenue, 41.4 acres with eight lighted tennis courts and four lighted ball fields, and the 308 acres of Dorothea Dix Park are on the far side of downtown.
Elsewhere in Raleigh, not Oakwood
21 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 21 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from a representative point inside the overlay, near Oakwood Avenue, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times. Read the walk column for downtown; the base middle school is across the city.
Every gym within reach
There is no gym in the district. The nearest is the Poyner YMCA on Fayetteville Street, with a wellness floor, a cycle studio and a heated yoga studio but no pool; its members swim at the Alexander Family YMCA on Hillsborough Street or the Southeast Raleigh branch. The City's community centers at John Chavis Memorial Park and Lions Park each have a gymnasium and a fitness room.
- Poyner YMCA, 227 Fayetteville Street: no pool
- Lions Park, 516 Dennis Avenue: a City fitness room at $12 a month for adults
- Alexander Family YMCA, 1603 Hillsborough Street: the nearest YMCA pool
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Poyner YMCA open | 227 Fayetteville Street: a wellness floor, a cycle studio, a heated yoga studio and classes, and no pool. Membership includes the pools at the Alexander Family and Southeast Raleigh branches. | 4–6 min |
| John Chavis Memorial Park open | The City's community center at 505 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, with a gymnasium, a fitness room and the park's 1923 carousel. | 5–7 min |
| Lions Park open | The City's community center at 516 Dennis Avenue: a gymnasium, a fitness room at $12 a month for adults, eight lighted tennis courts and the Capital City BMX track. | 6–8 min |
| Alexander Family YMCA open | 1603 Hillsborough Street, and the nearest YMCA branch with a pool. | 6–9 min |
The free option is the district itself: sidewalks on both sides of most streets over rolling ground, and the cemetery's lanes from 8 a.m.
One high school for every block, and a split below it
The Wake County Public School System assigns each home one base school by address. On its 2026-27 maps almost all of the overlay, 966 of its 995 residents on the 2020 blocks, falls to Conn Elementary on Brookside Drive, Oberlin Middle on Oberlin Road across the city, and Broughton High on St. Mary's Street. All three are magnet schools on the traditional calendar. The overlay's southern tip below New Bern Avenue, one census block of 29 residents, is assigned Root Elementary on Northampton Street and Moore Square Middle, a magnet school on a modified calendar a few blocks south.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Conn Elementary School | Wake County Public School System | The base elementary school for 966 of the overlay's 995 residents on the 2020 blocks. It is a magnet school, so part of its enrollment applies in from elsewhere, and it runs the traditional calendar. |
| Root Elementary School | Wake County Public School System | The base elementary for the overlay's southern tip below New Bern Avenue, one census block of 29 residents in 2020. It is on Northampton Street, about six kilometers northwest, and is not a magnet school. |
| Oberlin Middle School | Wake County Public School System | The base middle school for most of the overlay, a magnet school on Oberlin Road on the far side of the city's northwest. |
| Moore Square Middle School | Wake County Public School System | The base middle school for the southern tip, a magnet school on a modified calendar a few blocks south on Person Street. |
| Broughton High School | Wake County Public School System | The base high school for every block in the overlay, on St. Mary's Street west of downtown. It is also a magnet school. |
Run the exact address through the school system's own lookup before you commit. It publishes a current-year and a next-year set of base maps, and magnet and year-round seats are applied for in a separate choice window rather than assigned.
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 °C and lows just under freezing at RDU, with 18 nights at or below freezing in an average January
- The month the canopy is bare enough to see the rooflines, the slate and the state of the porches
- A major-work application filed now is usually decided in spring, 10 to 14 weeks on
- Highs near 13 °C, and 3.6 cm of snow on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- A frame house of the 1880s shows its heating bill now, so ask for a year of statements
- The COA committee usually meets on the fourth Thursday of the month at 5 p.m., and its agendas are public
- Highs near 17 °C and 104 mm of rain on the normal
- Porch and paint season opens, and the design guidelines say brick that was historically unpainted stays unpainted
- Spring listings appear, and in a district of 390 single-family parcels there are never many at once
- The Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood runs its Garden Tour and Tea through six private gardens, the 37th on 11 and 12 April 2026
- Highs near 23 °C, and 1.1 frost nights on the normal, the last of the season
- A self-guided walk of 1.5 to 2 miles covers the tour, which is most of the district
- Highs near 27 °C and no frost on the normal
- The canopy fills in over streets the City's own essay calls the most varied topography of any Raleigh historic district
- Plan tree work with care: the guidelines call removing a healthy, mature tree not appropriate, and ask for a like replacement for a diseased one
- Highs near 31 °C and 99 mm of rain on the normal, falling on old oaks over old roofs
- The cemetery's grounds stay open until 6 p.m. while daylight saving time runs
- Air conditioning goes in the most inconspicuous place, usually the rear, and screened: that is the guideline, so ask where a condenser can sit before you buy
- The hottest month at RDU, with highs near 33 °C and 128 mm of rain
- The neighborhood's Fourth of July block party is on the Society's annual calendar
- RDU averages 52 days a year at or above 32 °C
- Highs near 32 °C and lows near 21 °C
- Conn, Oberlin and Broughton all run the traditional calendar, and the drive to Oberlin crosses the city
- New Bern Avenue construction on the district's southern edge is part of the daily drive
- The wettest month on the RDU normal, at 131 mm
- Highs still near 28 °C
- Check gutters and drainage on the lots that fall away toward the cemetery
- Candlelight Tour tickets go on sale on 1 October, and the Society warns that they sell out fast
- Highs near 23 °C and lows near 10 °C
- The Society's fall pig pickin' is on the same calendar
- The canopy turns and drops over lots of 0.13 acres at the median
- Standard time returns and the cemetery closes at 5 p.m.
- Highs near 17 °C, and 7.8 frost nights on the normal
- The 55th Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour is on 12 and 13 December 2026
- Highs near 13 °C and 2 cm of snow on the normal
- Assessments still rest on the 2024 revaluation; Wake County's next one takes effect on 1 January 2027
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds 3 photographs and the page has already printed all of them, each once. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Oakwood, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Raleigh library.