Historic maps of SW Durham County where The Downs now exists

• 1822 map of North Carolina by Fielding Lucas, Jr. (section between Hillsborough and Raleigh) (JPEG - 153KB)
  

  The road connecting Hillsborough to Raleigh, after passing through the "University" community, passed just about right through The Downs, or very near it! It is hard to get oriented on the map, because Durham County did not yet exist at the time. But the East-West Chatham County Line is presumably the same as now; and you can see Morgan Creek and New Hope Creek framing "University" (Little Creek is not shown), with the Raleigh Road coming toward us between the two creeks, down the center of the ridge which Barry Saunders called our attention to in 2021. See his topo/watershed map below on this page.

• Southwest Durham County 100-150 years ago.
  • Patterson Township, SW Durham County, in 1887 (PDF - 799KB)
  • Patterson Township, SW Durham County, in 1920 (PDF - 794KB)

Historic aerial photos of SW Durham County where The Downs now exists

• U.S. Dept. of Agriculture photos (from UNC Library collection)
  • Aerial photo taken Oct. 25, 1940 (JPEG - 2444KB)

    The Downs area is largely forest in upper right corner. Main roads are Farrington (Mill) on west, Kepley on east, and Transis Camp Rd./Old Hope Valley Farm Rd. on south. Teer Farm is squarish cleared area in upper right and long vertical cleared rectangle to its west is the 35-acre Crane tract still bordering the west side of the body of the Downs "bottle" shape.

  • Aerial photo taken March 30, 1955 (JPEG - 14,841KB)

    Teer Farm is in upper middle. Crane tract rectangle is now no longer farmed, but is still visible to the west (left) of the Teer Farm. The cabin which still stands in 2023 across from the Mansmanns is visible at the top of the rectangle. The two-tone nature of the forested area in between, now The Downs, is presumably because in late March the leaves have not yet grown on the deciduous trees, with the darker patches being evergreen pines and the lighter patches hardwoods. In addition to Farrington (Mill), Kepley, and Transis Camp roads, the American Tobacco railroad line is prominent on the east.

Maps of The Downs

In chronological order, showing numbered lots (some are large files!)

• Map of Property of J. Dewey Powell 1967-05-05 (with topo lines and other historic features) (PDF - 7907KB)
• Two copies of the same Kingswood East (The Downs) Plat Map as recorded in Book of Maps 67, Page 84 of the Durham County Registry and referenced in the Restrictive Covenants below.
  • Gray scale, with hand drawn notations such as "SOLD," "WELL," etc. (PDF - 5655KB)
  • Yellowed original, with a few hand-drawn topo lines (PDF - 4294KB)
• Durham County Tax Map 496 Triangle Township, including The Downs, rev. 1976 (PDF - 5025KB)
• Durham County Tax Map 494 Triangle Township, including Farrington Mill-Kepley Rd. area, rev. 1976 (PDF - 3190KB)

Topo Map of The Downs with Fall Line added

The fall line separates the watersheds of Morgan Creek to our west, and Little Creek (& the Little/New Hope arm of Jordan Lake) to our east.

4-page PDF with the fall line drawn on pages 3-4, courtesy of Barry Saunders. Details here.

NC Broadband Infrastructure Office Map for The Downs

As of 2017-07-24.