Who is the only person to have a building named after them at both Duke and UNC?

Who wrote the song, Tobacco Road, and was “born on a kitchen table” behind Monuts?

Where did Madonna take early dance lessons?

Find out the answer to these and many more with historian John Schelp, on his FREE Neighborhoods Hike: West Durham, East Campus & Beyond on Saturday, 15 April 2017 at noon.

Meet at Ninth & Green where we’ll start with the South Ellerbe Creek Nature Area and continue through an old mill village. We’ll see an old liquor house, Buck Dean’s bungalow, a Sears House and a quiet urban garden in Old West Durham. We’ll then continue into the Watts-Hillandale neighborhood and walk past Oval Park and the old Watts Hospital.

We’ll go down a hidden alley and see where a songwriter for Norah Jones, Lou Rawls and Jefferson Airplane was born. We’ll head over to Walltown and hear about Duke’s original plans to build here. Then we’ll go by Richard Nixon’s house in Trinity Heights and continue past the homes of Duke’s famous faculty and coaches on Buchanan — including Cap Card, the father of Duke basketball and Wallace Wade, whose bowl games paid for Cameron Indoor Stadium.

We’ll go down Watts Street, past Trinity Park park, and see where Mr. Costner was filmed in his boxers in Bull Durham. Then we’ll head across East Campus to Ninth Street, past Erwin Cotton Mills and back to where we started.

You’ll see a little nature and learn some Durham history on the route. We’ll also talk about urban trees and the ridge, between the Neuse and Cape Fear basins, that forms the backbone of our town. We might even get into current events in the Bull City and talk about all this development around Ninth Street.

John Schelp will narrate along the way. No need to register. Parking is available on streets near Ninth & Green. (Bike racks are also nearby.)

Hike takes about three hours (but folks can peel off anytime.) Optional post-tour gathering at Dain’s Place at 754 Ninth Street — for a cold drink and further conversation.

Co-sponsored by Museum of Durham History, Sierra Club and the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association. Rain or shine. FREE