Village District (formerly Cameron Village), was the first

planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

to be developed in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. Development was started in 1947 when J.W. York and R.A Bryan bought of undeveloped land two miles west of downtown Raleigh, near the

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

campus. The "village" was to consist of a

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

apartments An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

, and single family homes. The area was renamed to Village District in 2021 to distance itself from the slave owning Cameron family, who owned Stagville Plantation, that it was originally named after.

History

The shopping center opened in 1949 as Cameron Village, and quickly became the premier shopping area in Raleigh. It is also considered the first shopping center to be built between

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and

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. The shopping center is an open-air shopping mall, but unlike a

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

, the stores are divided into blocks with some on two levels. Several parking decks were built in the 1960s, although most of these were removed in later renovations, to give a more open feel. Cameron Village grew quickly, and by 1950 the community had 65 stores, a movie theater, more than 600 homes and apartments, and over 100 business/professional offices. Downtown Raleigh, which had been the primary shopping location in the Raleigh area, started to see a decline in business as consumers gravitated toward the convenient parking of Cameron Village. The Occidental Life Insurance Company Building was added to Cameron Village in 1956. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2003. On January 28, 2021, Cameron Village shopping center was renamed to Village District, after 71 years to avoid celebrating the

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

owner for whom the center had been named and who held people enslaved to operate the plantation.

Neighborhood Association

Residents of the single family homes, condominiums, and apartments in Village District are represented by the Cameron Village Neighborhood Association. Meetings are held quarterly to discuss issues related to traffic, zoning, construction, and other matters.

Entertainment

In the 1970s, “ The Village Subway,” an underground area, formerly used as a bomb shelter in the Cold War, was converted into an entertainment and music venue that included shops and restaurants. It was located beneath the current

The Fresh Market The Fresh Market, Inc. is an American chain of supermarkets based in Greensboro, North Carolina. History The Fresh Market was founded by Ray and Beverly Berry on March 5, 1982, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The first store was opened in the f ...

and the Oberlin Regional Library (formerly Cameron Village Regional Library). Nightclubs such as The Frog and Nightgown, The Pier, and Cafe Déjà Vu opened and attracted many regional and national upcoming performers as diverse as

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

, and R.E.M. “The Village Subway” existed for about 12 years; however, most establishments closed during the 1980s.

Currently

The Fresh Market,

Harris Teeter Harris Teeter Supermarkets, LLC., also known as Harris Teeter Neighborhood Food & Pharmacy, is an American supermarket chain based in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte. , the chain operates 262 stores in ...

Walgreens Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S. Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...

, and a

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Public Library branch serve as anchors. The shopping center has been expanded and renovated several times, including a restyling in the mid-1980s and another in the early 2000s. Today, Village District has over 100 stores including over a dozen restaurants like The Flying Biscuit Cafe and the world's first two-story

Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A, Inc. ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain and the largest chain specializing in Chicken burger, chicken sandwiches. Headquarter ...

References

External links