General Dentist Near Apex, NC

Information on Apex, NC

If you stood on Salem Street today in downtown Apex you would observe a spring rain in which the water would run from the center down one side to the Cape Fear River and from the center to the other side to the Neuse River. Apex is appropriately named as the peak, tip or summit. A train station was built back in 1854 and was a popular stop. As the steam engines climbed from Richmond, Virginia or from the opposite direction, Jacksonville Florida, Apex became their refill stop for their water supply. It was the summit of the old Chatham railroad line. The town grew up around that train station since it was one of the first settlements outside of the capital of Raleigh. Located in the middle of a pine forest in became a shipping point for not only lumber but also for tar and turpentine. As the timber was thinned the ground was converted into farmland and the tobacco industry became the next vibrant part of the local economy in the early 1900s.

Apex is located 15 miles southwest of Raleigh and 17 miles due south of the Research Triangle Park. This last point is huge in the massive growth of Apex in recent years. Several respected publications have recognized Apex as of late. First it was Money magazine in 2007 ranking the community in the top ten best places to live. Two years later in 2009 Forbes magazine ranked it number three. In 2014 it was Family Circle magazine giving it a top ten ranking and then finally in 2015 it was Times magazine ranking Apex number one! As late as 1930 Apex only had around 1,000 residents. When the Research Triangle Park was conceived in 1959 and developed in the 1960s the population has skyrocketed today to just shy 50,000 residents.

With a museum like downtown Apex has maintained its character with the sudden growth. That original train station for example is still in the heart of the city and now is the home to the Chamber of Commerce. In fact, the entire downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. So you will find a wonderful mix or balance of the old and the new. Traditionally restaurants and watering holes offset by new malls and retail shopping opportunities. The Research Park has brought to the area an educated workforce and many new businesses with the population growth.

There are an above average number of local parks and recreational offerings. With Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill only a cup of coffee away your list of offerings grows exponentially. In addition to that you can head one weekend to the east a couple of hours and enjoy the Atlantic coast and then the next weekend pack your bags and drive a couple of hours west and create your own adventures in the Appalachian Mountains. It’s no wonder that it received the recognition it has from those notable publication. Apex is indeed the summit of the Piedmont!