A mineral spring, a 1909 train depot, and why I keep driving south to a town most people only pass on their way to somewhere else.
I get asked a lot which Triangle town is my favorite to spend a Saturday in, and the honest answer keeps surprising people. It is not Raleigh proper, even though that is the name on the masthead. It is Fuquay-Varina, about twenty five minutes south, and specifically its downtown, which is really two downtowns wearing a trench coat as one.
How one town ended up with two Main Streets
Here is the short version, because the long version involves a lot of 1800s land disputes I will spare you. In the 1850s, a healing mineral spring was discovered on land owned by a man named Fuquay. Word got out that the water cured what ailed you, and by the early 1900s thousands of people a year were traveling in by train to sit by it. A town grew up around the spring and took the name Fuquay Springs. Down the railroad tracks, a second town called Varina grew up around the depot. The two stayed separate, sometimes prickly, neighbors for decades before finally merging in 1963 into the wonderfully specific Fuquay-Varina. The spring itself is still there, tucked into Fuquay Mineral Spring Park, covered by a little gazebo and reachable by a footbridge. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986, and it is still one of the most peaceful five minutes you can spend in Wake County. Read more on the spring’s history here if you like a good local origin story as much as I do.
That history is why downtown Fuquay-Varina still functions as two distinct little districts, Downtown Fuquay and Downtown Varina, close enough to walk between in about fifteen minutes but different enough in character that I genuinely treat it as two stops on the same outing.
Downtown Varina is where I start
This end of town centers on the old train depot, which now houses Aviator Brewing Company’s Tap House, a genuinely lovely reason to plan a whole afternoon around a beer. A block or two over, Aviator Pizzeria & BeerShop has a rooftop that I would put up against almost anything in Raleigh proper, especially on a September evening when the heat has finally broken. If you need caffeine before any of that, BOLT Drinks and Coffee on Broad Street is a reliable stop, and SupaBowlz Cafe covers the smoothie bowl and acai craving better than anywhere else I have found south of downtown Raleigh.
Downtown Fuquay is where I linger
Walk the fifteen minutes over, or drive it if you are precious about your steps, and the vibe shifts to something a little more boutique. This is where you find the small, independently owned shops that make a downtown feel lived in rather than staged, the kind of storefronts that TRL exists to point people toward in the first place. Give yourself an hour with no agenda here. You will end up somewhere good.
What is actually on the calendar
The Downtown Fuquay-Varina Association runs the district as an accredited Main Street America program, which in practice means there is almost always something happening. First Friday events run monthly through the fall, Trick or Treat Downtown is set for October 23, and BBQ Blues & Brews lands on November 7. All of it is worth building a weekend around, and all of it is the kind of low key, family friendly programming that reminds you small towns inside big metro areas are still allowed to feel like small towns.
If you are already in a fall state of mind after this, I would pair a downtown Fuquay-Varina afternoon with one of the farms on my fall vibes list or an apple picking trip, since several of my favorites are a short drive further south and west of town. And if you want the play by play on what else is happening across the Triangle this month, I keep that running in my weekly roundup.
I will say this plainly because I think it matters: towns like Fuquay-Varina are exactly what keeps the Triangle from turning into one long stretch of the same six chain restaurants. Every dollar spent at a place like BOLT or SupaBowlz or the shops tucked into Downtown Fuquay is a vote for that staying true. So next Saturday, skip the usual and make the drive south. Park once, walk both downtowns, and tell me which one wins you over. My money is still on the rooftop.
Like this one? Pin it for later.
Keep exploring: things to do in Fuquay-Varina and what’s happening this weekend.
Keep reading
