Marking the Historic Neighborhood of Idlewild
This past Thursday while waiting for (a very delicious) Thanksgiving dinner at the home of some friends of mine, I decided to walk down to Big John’s Community Grocery, which is on the corner of Edenton Street and Idlewild Avenue. It’s within eyesight of their front porch, and I’ve witnessed some interesting activity there for some time. Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to walk down to the store and talk to some of the people hanging around outside. While on my way there, I noticed the historic ground marker above.
The inscription reads:
Idlewild Neighborhood, 1891. Idlewild Avenue is the center of Idlewild, an early area of African-American home ownership named after the Battle Family Estate on Cotton Place south of New Bern Avenue. The Raleigh Land and Improvement Company subdivided Idlewild, and the neighborhood grew in the early twentieth century. Bounded by Swain St. on west, Oakwood Avenue on north, Tarboro Road on east, and Edenton Street on south.
Until I saw this marker, I had assumed that Idlewild
was simply a road, perhaps named after a long deceased resident. As I mentioned in the previous post about Idlewild Avenue, it is an area frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers, especially at night. If you drive your car on this road, there is a good chance someone will approach you if you come to a stop. I’m guessing it’s an offer of drugs, but I can’t say for sure. Having said that, I should note that I frequently ride my bicycle down this road, and have never been harrassed or felt unsafe in any way. I’ve even walked down it a couple of times, and everyone I came in to contact with was very friendly, if not naturally curious as to what I was doing there.
Idlewild Avenue at night
Sadly, I can find no historical information on the community of Idlewild. Unlike African-American communities such as Oberlin or Method, there are no online records of any kind that document this neighborhood. As noted in the marker, it is bounded by the Oakwood community on the north. The specific part of Oakwood on the north is the revival district, where new homes are taking the place of the former decrepit ones. Swain Street to the west has already transformed in to a beautiful residential area. With both Edenton Street and Jones Street going through such a revitalization, it will be very interesting to see if Idlewild is included in this process.
I’m guessing that most, if not all, of the residents of Idlewild would gladly welcome the elimination of drugs and prostitution that currently exist there. However, it seems that when this takes place, the long time residents move elsewhere. It would be a shame to have yet another historically African-American community eroded in the name of progress.
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12/01/2008
Interesting…I can’t say that I go around on foot, wandering the streets of Idlewild, though I frequently bike through this neighborhood and find it pleasant as well.
Did you talk to anyone in the neighborhood?
This is a good article.
12/04/2008
I live on the “revitalized’ side of Swain, and absolutely love all the color and character of this particular part of Raleigh. Yes, it has its somewhat unseemly side, but all in all it is a wonderfully charming place to live. I should say that the area is definitely in limbo — not just in its changing face but in name. When we moved in, we were told we were in “Oakwood” (not Historic Oakwood, but Oakwood nonethless). We are also supposedly in an area once known as Edenton Place. According to your info, we are in the Idlewild area. With the revitalization, it has also been dubbed the Cooke Street Community. And, up at the corner of Edenton and Bloodworth (or East?) there is another marker, dubbing the area Hungry Neck, which has a certain charm as well.
12/04/2008
Kaci – I did, actually. There were a few what I believe to be (working on Thanksgiving, no less) who commented that I wouldn’t be able to drink the six pack of beer I just bought after eating turkey (I had to buy something…) They were very friendly, and when asked if they had anywhere to be for dinner, said words to the effect of – .
Matt – Thanks for the tip about Hungry Neck. It’s my goal to document all of the markers that line your area. You point out an interesting observation–does the designation of the neighborhood change when the demographics of it are altered? You can always look at it from the point of view that you are a resident of several neighborhoods, all while only owning one house!
12/05/2008
John, I do sorta look at it like that. At first I’ll admit that a part of me *wanted* my house to be in Oakwood, but as time has gone by I’ve gained more of an appreciation for the history of the area.
I also understand that revitalization (or what could be called gentrification) doesn’t always have a positive response. As the new houses go up on Cooke Street (starting around the mid-150Ks), the long-time residents of this area — many who have longed for good development for years — are bemoaning the fact that the homes are not affordable. I see their point, but I disagree if for no other reason than the prices of the houses in our area are designed to be varied. Ours was market rate when we bought it, but we are bounded on two sides by Habitat homes, and on the other side by homes where the owners could not earn more than X amount of money a year, thus opening it up for first-time buyers. In addition, I believe St. Aug’s has built several homes, thus tying the area to the nearest educational institution (again, a great idea, IMHO).
The neighborhood appears to be thriving; not just in growth and home values, but in the quality of the neighbors.
12/05/2008
John and Matt–
Here’s what I know about the origin and early history of the Idlewild neighborhood: In 1891 the property on the north side of New Bern Ave., then know as the “Seawell Grove,” was subdivided into lots by the Raleigh Land and Improvement Co. The development encompassed the area bounded by New Bern Ave., Tarboro Rd., Oakwood Ave. and Swain St. It was named “Idlewild” after the antebellum estate then located on New Bern Ave. across from the grove. Apartments occupy that site today. A grid plan of streets was laid out with alleyways running behind them on a north-south parallel. One of those alleys was later widened and is now the present Cooke St., formerly known as Haywood St. Other named alleys still exist in the neighborhood, among them Selwyn Alley and Heck Alley. Eventually shotgun houses lined most of them, but they are all now gone.
Remember, this was the segregation era, and Idlewild was initially intended as a “whites only” neighborhood. The lots did not sell well and by the early 1900s Idlewild was being marketed to Raleigh’s then emerging black middle class, many of whom were associated with nearby St. Aug’s. By 1914 CP&L streetcars were servicing the neighborhood. The cars ran out New Bern Ave., turned north onto Idlewild Ave., then west onto Lane St., through Oakwood and then back downtown. Idlewild especially flourished during the 1920s; that is the period when many of the houses still standing today were built. The Great Depression of the 1930s took its toll on the neighborhood, and by the post WW II period it had entered a gradual decline. There’s much more to this fascinating story, but this narrative is already running a little long.
Incidently, trying to associate the neighborhood with Oakwood or giving the area cutesy names like “Edenton Place” is no more than a real estate agent’s ploy. I myself would be proud to live in a neighborhood like Idlewild! “Edenton Place”? –Haha
Oh, and about Hungry Neck: It occupied the low-lying area stradling Edenton St. between Swain and East St., and was one of Raleigh’s earliest post Civil War freedmen’s settlements. You can just make it out on C.N. Drie’s 1872 aerial map of Raleigh. Edenton St. was extended through there about the time Idlewild was first being developed. Nowadays, there are only 2 or 3 of the original houses extant . But that is another story, and I will save it for another time!
10/05/2011
Thanks for the info, Raleigh Boy! Do you have a source or website at which we can read more?
I live officially in Idlewild/Cooke St. Community. I really like it there…though the OTB people think that we live in too dangerous a neighborhood! My only complaint is that, since it’s in a valley, I have to work hard to get my bike up the hill to downtown. And the trees are still too small to provide much shade. Make sure you check out the Cooke Street Carnival, which is every fall. This year it’s on Oct. 15; coming right up.
10/06/2011
Stephen — Unfortunately, I don’t know of any source of information on Idlewild online. Everything I’ve written here is based on my own research and from studying old maps. Maybe I ought to write a history of the neighborhood.
I have friends who live on Cooke St. and I’m looking forward to the Cooke Street Carnival next weekend! Maybe I’ll see you there.
04/28/2015
Try reading some of this!Idlewild in particular is mentioned around page 14,15, etc
http://rhdc.org/sites/default/files/EvolRaleighAfricanAmericanNeigh.pdf
06/04/2015
Thanks for posting, Olivia!
07/27/2024
Idlewild is still terrible 16 years later