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Introduction
The cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill make up the Triangle, with Raleigh to the east, Durham to the north, Chapel Hill to the west. In the center sits Research Triangle Park, a renowned complex of corporations and public and private research facilities set in 6,800 acres of lake-dotted pineland. It's a magnet for scientists, academics, and businesspeople from all over the world. Raleigh, the state capital, is the biggest of the three cities. Many of the state's largest and best museums are here, as are North Carolina State University and six other universities and colleges.Durham, 23 miles northwest of Raleigh on I-40 and NC 147 (Durham Freeway) has three of North Carolina's 22 National Historic Landmarks, as well as Duke University and its medical and research centers. It's no longer a tobacco town, and warehouses and mills around the city have been converted into chic shops, offices, and condos.
Chapel Hill, the smallest city in the Research Triangle area, is 12 miles southwest of Durham on U.S. 15-501, and 28 miles northwest of Raleigh. Home to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill sits on a tree-shaded rise. While the downtown area is filled with shops and restaurants and bustles with students, businesspeople, and retirees, strict enforcement of stringent historic preservation laws -- no billboards are permitted -- preserve its 1950s smalltown-America air.
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