Budleigh As It Was Becoming What It Is

Gary B. Blank, Ph.D., North Carolina State University
June 2024

The account here results from information provided by a series of area maps and photographs about a landscape that became known as Budleigh. Today’s vibrant neighborhood evolved through decades of development that changed the landscape in which we live. Around 1860, 80 percent of Wake County was cleared land, cleared for crops and pasture, so the area we now see as residential had already been mostly deforested; that is, all the original forest had been cut. Lassiter Mill and Edwards Mill, for instance, sawed logs cut from the lands on which Budleigh exists. Over the years after deforestation, abandoned crop or pastureland generated new forests. These forests were dominated by shortleaf pines, various oaks, and the species we have the pleasure of seeing today. Loblolly pine became a more prominent canopy component over time as fire suppression and species competition gave it an advantage in some locations.

What we now know as Budleigh originally was a rural suburb of a small metropolis called Raleigh that developed after the middle of the 20th century. Budleigh grew over the decades as people who lived on and used the land did what landowners near cities have usually done: sell property as land prices rose and purchased land got divided into lots on which houses were built. This narrative tells a bit about that history of change.

The 1914 Wake County Soil Survey (Fig. 1) does not show Budleigh as a neighborhood. In fact, Oberlin is the nearest identifiable community in what can only be described as a rural landscape outside the metropolitan center of Raleigh. Glenwood Avenue and Oberlin Roads are recognizable. The two prongs of Beaverdam Creek should orient you to where modern Budleigh developed.

Pitts (2021) includes a note from the Raleigh Postmaster that no mail could be delivered to residences on dirt roads without road signs outside the city limits. Roberts, describing the nearby Oberlin area about 1900, said that along Beaver Dam Branch were farms owned by James Dodd and Rev. M.L. Latta (Pitts 2021). These farms, especially the Latta farm, were probably along the Southeast Branch of Beaverdam Creek, therefore not actually in what is now Budleigh. While nothing has been found to document the neighborhood history between 1914 and 1938, during this period most of the current Budleigh neighborhood was farmland or woodlots regenerating from past clearing or harvesting of timber.

Figure 1: From the 1914 Soil Survey of Wake County.

In 1938, Thomas Quay studied bird species using habitats in West Raleigh and annotated an aerial photograph (Fig. 2) to indicate habitats he was studying. The 1938 photograph documents how much of the current forest cover in Budleigh is less than 80 years old or how much forest that existed 80 years ago is now gone. Notice the cleared fields on either side of Lake Boone Trail, the north end of Dixie Trail, and between Dixie Trail and Ridge Road. Also, note the amount of cleared area west of Ridge Road where Highland Methodist Church sits today.

The first numbers in circles on Figure 2 indicate habitat types that Thomas Quay was studying in Budleigh and, by comparison, suggest what vegetation occupied unmarked areas:

• (3.0) crab grass-tall weeds

• (5.0) tall weeds-broomsedge

• (6.0) broomsedge-pine

• (7.0) pine.

The pine trees were mostly shortleaf (Pinus echinata) in various stages of growth.

You should notice Lake Boone at the intersection of Cambridge Road and Lake Boone Trail. The cleared area and a building north of Lake Boone are interesting to note, as the site is detailed in Figure 3, a photo of Lake Boone later.

Figure 2: A section of one of three aerial photos Thomas Quay marked up when he did his M.S. degree examining bird habitats in West Raleigh.

Lake Boone (Fig. 3) existed from when it was created sometime after 1914 until the dam was breached in 1972. During this time, development in the Southwest Prong watershed resulted in silt and sediment deposition that eventually filled the reservoir behind the dam. The occasional muddiness of the lake is apparent in Figure 3, as are the powerline right-of-way that spans Budleigh from southwest to northeast. The houses that began to occupy land north of the lake and Lake Boone Trail, west of Cambridge, still occupy that land. Forest on these slopes was second or third growth mixed pine (mostly shortleaf) and hardwood species. Obviously, some land was too steep to cultivate, so some areas remained wooded, but some of these places were pasture or marginal farm fields. In either case, erosion removed much of the topsoil (Fig. 4.).

Little known facts about this part of Raleigh surprise people. For example, few people realize the present Glenwood Village shopping center site was once a quarry and later a landfill. “Stone from this quarry is found in many of Raleigh’s old homes and buildings, including Hillyer Memorial Christian Church (built in 1925) and Broughton High School (1929)” (Franklin 1998). If you look, these houses can be found along Brooks Avenue and Dixie Trail south of Wade Avenue. And if you go behind the Harris Teeter building at Glenwood Village, you can still observe drill shafts where blasting charges were inserted in the rock.

Figure 3: Lake Boone and houses north of the lake between Cambridge and Agecroft.

Figure 4: Eroded wooded land north of Martin Middle School, near the current Ridgewood Pool.

As of 1950, Dixie Trail began at Hillsborough Street and extended to Lake Boone Trail (Pitts 2021). By 1951, when a USGS topographic map was published, much of Budleigh had been incorporated into the city (Fig. 5). Land east of Dixie Trail and north of Lake Boone Trail are shown as part of the urban complex. Green surrounding this urbanized land was forested, but the white areas would have been open fields, such as south of Lake Boone Trail, the site of Francis Lacey Elementary school. Note again the power line right of way indicated by the straight dashed line stretching southwest to northeast. Wade Avenue did not exist. Nor did many parts of the current streets in Budleigh that since then have been connected, especially by bridging Southwest Branch of Beaverdam Creek.

Figure 5: USGS (1951) topographic map showing part of Budleigh incorporated in the City of Raleigh.

Houses had started to rise along Lake Boone Trail after 1948. The house at 813, for example, was started in 1949 (Fig. 6), designed by an NC State architect, William Baumgarten, whose wife Valerie outlived him and remained in the house until 1979. Many of the surrounding houses were built by a contractor who lived in a house demolished before the house currently at 823 LBT was constructed. Homes built during the period 1949-1955 were modest ranch-style brick dwellings often one story, with a basement and about 1700-2500 square feet of inhabitable space on lots usually near half an acre in size. The people who built or bought these houses, like Red and Louise Pierson or Lee and Rachel Swanson or O.A. and Rose Harrison raised families in this neighborhood where their kids could walk to school.

Both Lacy Elementary and Martin Middle School appear on the 1970 USGS Soil Survey aerial photo taken in 1965 (Fig. 7). These schools are shown sitting on made land, a result of grading and site work done during construction. Martin Middle School, on Horton Street, backed up to a relatively new apartment complex, The Palms, that endured until just a few years ago, when Waltonwood Retirement Community and The Marlowe Lake Boone Apartments replaced them. Though faint, most of the street network that exists today can be observed. A notable exception is the Woodgreen subdivision built in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Note that Lake Boone still exists in the photograph.

Figure 6: House at 813 Lake Boone Trail in 1979.

Figure 7: USGS Soil Map from 1970 (photo 1965).

For decades, the neighborhood changed little, with the Medlin Shopping Center hosting Neomonde’s first location, a mini-mart, Crowley’s Old-Time Favorites, a beauty parlor, and a variety of small shops over the years. In recent decades, some homes built in the 1950s have been expanded, some modernized and renovated, and some still exist almost as when they were built. But others have been replaced as styles and needs in Budleigh have changed. The change seems to be accelerating as property values climb to levels that make prices paid for many of these properties in the 1970s seem unreal. Often, it is hard to remember what the house that previously occupied a site looked like before it was demolished so a new structure could be built. Figures 8 and 9, for example, show empty lots, Figure 8 at 820 Lake Boone Trail and Figure 9 on Nottingham Road. Figure 10 shows what the house that existed on that bare Nottingham Road lot looked like before it was sold. Typical of the small one-story dwellings built during the 1950s, it was not updated, was a small house on a large lot, and the folks who sold it probably were pleasantly surprised at the price for which they were able to sell the place.

Figure 8: Lot at 820 Lake Boone Trail. Figure 9: Empty lot on Nottingham Road. Figure 10: House on Nottingham Road.

When the Lake Boone dam was breached in 1972, a cattail marsh developed and persisted for over a decade. Eventually, the lakebed was filled with excavation debris and soil, confining the Southwest Prong of Beaverdam Creek to a straight channel. The area was then primed for residential development, with the first house constructed three lots west of Cambridge. Heavy rains in 1988 and 1996 caused significant flooding, reinforcing the necessity for building homes on higher ground. Today, as you walk along Lake Boone Trail, you can see evidence of these adjustments in the elevated homes.

The Glenwood Village shopping center, once a quarry and later a landfill, is another fascinating aspect of Budleigh’s history. Stone from the quarry is present in many historic Raleigh buildings, including Hillyer Memorial Christian Church and Broughton High School. By 1950, Dixie Trail had extended to Lake Boone Trail, and by 1951, much of Budleigh was incorporated into Raleigh. The neighborhood saw modest ranch-style homes built from 1949 to 1955, many of which have since been expanded, modernized, or replaced.

The changes in Budleigh have accelerated in recent decades due to rising property values. Homes built in the 1950s have been updated or replaced to meet contemporary needs, making it difficult to remember the original structures. This transformation reflects the dynamic nature of the neighborhood, adapting to the evolving demands of its residents while preserving glimpses of its rich history.

Literature Cited

• Franklin, J. 1998. “The Story in the Stone,” The News and Observer (December 27): 1D, 4-5D.

• Pitts, B.A. 2021. West Raleigh’s Country Lanes: A Social History and Gazetteer of Street Names. Raleigh, North Carolina.