4400 Hope Valley Road

I vote for "The Oaks at Piney Woods." ;) Another favorite is "Lochnora 2."

Wasn't the other house from another location? I think that only the one shown in these photos was on that land before. I had hoped that they were moving that other house TO the lot and that another townhouse development wasn't going there. Then that house was moved away and this one was uprooted. I bet the development will be $250K townhomes called "The Woods at Hopecroft."

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You could be right about the other house; it was obviously an older house as well, and, since it appeared at the edge of the property on the back of truck much like this one, then disappeared, I assumed that it came from the back of the property. I don't know why they would have parked another house here for awhile, but it is possible that they were waiting for a foundation to be poured somewhere else and just used this as a stopping-off point. I agree that the house pictured (as well as the old sheds and whatnot still on the property) are the only buildings I've seen from the road.

I'm liking these other suggestions: I'm going with "The Piney Woods at Hopecroft Shire"

GK

Wouldn't that be the Piney Woodes at Hopecrofte Shyre?

Nice! I do wonder about the propensity to get Middle English-y with our subdivision names. Did Chaucer write something about homeowner's associations and two-car garages? Perhaps in that lost book - The Developement Tale.

GK

The elderly man that used to live on this property was one of the few remnants of the Atkins family, that used to own a large farm on much of the surrounding land. There is a small grave yard just south of the property that is marked by an inset of the fence line for the Hope Valley Green neighborhood.

Mr. Atkins told me before he died that their used to be a highway sign out across the stree that said "Durham - 8 miles".

Gary,
I always enjoy reading your post! I'm a Durham native, and it's been great seeing things the way they used to be. I grew up off of Garrett Road, behind and next to Marydell. I remember when that neighborhood was a vast, open field.
Would you be willing to do a post on the old Hope Valley School and surrounding area? I lived in a subdivision off Garrett Road, and then we moved to Oxford Dr. near Epworth Methodist Church, in 1995. There was an old Red & White Grocery on the corner of University and Chapel Hill Road. I would love to know how this area was developed!

The parcel now has high-end townhomes on it - it certainly doesn't have the rural feel that it used to have.   Before the old sheds on the property were torn down, my wife and I and our baby son went out there with a photographer (the grand-daughter of the man that owned the property) to take some family pictures.  It felt like a place that was lost in time.