Raleigh neighborhood cuts tie with slave-owning namesake. Here’s its new name.
Update: The Raleigh City Council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept 3, 2024, on changing the name of the Cameron Park Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District to the Forest Park NCOD the city’s Unified Development Ordinance. The public hearing will take place during the council’s evening session starting at 7 p.m.
Cameron Park, a historic Raleigh neighborhood off Hillsborough Street, has settled on a new name.
Residents voted from four names and chose to be called Forest Park.
“Over the next few days and weeks we all must refocus our hearts and minds on all those things we love about our neighborhood,” according to a message sent to the neighborhoods listserv from the neighborhood association executive committee.
“Long walks in our gorgeous parks, with the friendly smiles, the wagging tails and waving hands of pets and people; all these things are still vibrant in this place we call home,” it stated.
The decision came after a contentious vote late last year on whether to change the name of the neighborhood and drop the reference to the Cameron family, once one of the largest holders of enslaved people in North Carolina. That motion passed 240-201, The News & Observer reported.
Also last year Regency Centers, owner of Cameron Village, announced it had renamed the shopping destination the Village District.
The debate leading up to the vote in Cameron Park was so heated that the popular neighborhood listserv was locked as neighbors argued about the best course of action.
Residents picked from four names: Forest Park, Village Park, Ambleside Park and Hillsborough Park.
Forest Park received 193 votes, while Village Park came in second with 125 votes.
The next step is to ask the city’s Department of Housing and Neighborhoods to update Raleigh’s official neighborhood list, according to Andrew Bagwell, the neighborhood association’s president.
“We have new challenges to face, development, car noise and many things we have yet to foresee,” according to the message. “We can look to our new name for inspiration. The trees in the forest are interdependent, they connect to each other to build a community and communicate to make themselves stronger and more vibrant. In Forest Park we will do the same.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 1:59 PM.
