This edition of Short Tails is about how we ended up house sitting in Durham, North Carolina, AKA Bull City. A strange sequence of events led us to one of our favorite house sits to date, and to a city we’d never previously heard of.
Durham, North Carolina
We have a Durham in the UK, but before January 2023, I’d never heard of the one in North Carolina. Durham, NC is a city of about 300,000 people, home to some outstanding BBQ, and an excellent craft beer scene. It notably forms part of the Research Triangle with neighboring Cary and the state capital Raleigh.
Durham found fame thanks to the 1988 Hollywood movie, Bull Durham, starring Kevin Costner, Tim Robins, and Susan Sarandon. With its central theme of baseball, it reflects Durham’s love of the game. The Durham Bulls are a Triple-A-affiliated team, which is a step below the majors, but still a pretty big deal.
Durham was built around the tobacco industry. It’s thought that at its height, half the world’s tobacco came from Durham’s factories. Tobacco shaped the city, and Durham subsequently helped shape the global tobacco industry in the 20th century.
Where the Hell is Duke?
In January 2023, Hannah and I had just finished 2 back-to-back house sits in Nashville and were enjoying a couple of weeks in rented accommodation with visits from friends and family.
During an afternoon out in East Nashville with Hannah’s mum, Jen, and her husband Kelvin, we were casually sinking a few beers and watching a college basketball game on the big screen. None of us are overly clued up on US sports but Jen asked me ‘Where the hell is Duke?’.
I had no idea! I’d certainly heard the name but couldn’t have picked it out on a map if my life depended on it. We, of course, Googled it and discovered it was in Durham, North Carolina.
The Value of House Sitting Alerts
Trusted Housesitters is the house sitting site we use almost exclusively for our travel accommodation. A great feature of the site is the ability to set alerts for future dates and destinations. We had already planned to return to the US after 3 months back in Europe for one long US house sit, so we had the alerts set for anything matching our criteria.
About an hour after returning from the bar with Jen and Kelvin, the Trusted Housesitter app pinged and it’s a sit for 2.5 months in Durham, NC, one block from the Duke East Campus! The dates fitted perfectly, the house looked amazing, and we’d have a lovely dog and 2 cats to care for. It was one we had to secure!
We applied immediately explaining we were in Nashville so would be happy to have a video call to discuss things further whilst in a similar time zone. We got a quick response, which is always a good sign with house sitting applications. A call was scheduled for the next morning.
Things Start to Get a Little Strange
The call with the hosts, Peter and Janene, went well. We were given a tour around the house and although they had a couple of people in the running, we felt in good shape as the call drew to an end. That’s when the discussion of Nashville came up.
Peter and Janene have enjoyed numerous trips to Music City as Janene’s cousin is a musician who plays regularly around town. She messaged him to see if he was playing anywhere during our stay.
Our afternoon plan immediately after the call was to head to our local bar, Brown’s Diner. It’s a short taxi or bus ride from Broadway but it’s one of the coolest and oldest venues in town. Jen and Kelvin hadn’t been there yet and we heard there was a band on that afternoon. Guess who was playing in the band?
What are the Odds of That?
Janene’s cousin texted back and informed her that he was playing with his band that afternoon at Brown’s Diner, what a coincidence! An hour later we were trading photos with the folks in Durham of us with their cousin at his gig. He spotted the English tourists a mile away and broke from his set to come and greet us.
We had a great afternoon, enjoyed the music, and chatted about Nashville and Durham. We were offered the house sit that day and despite still being in the USA, we were already excited for our return trip 3 months later.
There’s More
It was while researching a little more about Durham that we learned that it is known as Bull City. It relates to a brand of tobacco that was famously produced in Durham. Well, our surname is Bull, so it felt like another element of kismet that was pulling us to North Carolina.
We’re not big believers in fate and such but we started to hope that the reasons for being pulled to Durham were good and not something untoward!
It’s a little strange seeing your name on everything from bars and baseball caps to carwashes and vintage clothing shops.
House Sitting in Durham, NC
We loved our time in Durham. So much so that we are heading back for another 2 months across December and January in 2023/24. I included our Durham house sit in my Review of 5 Amazing House Sit Experiences, read all about it here.
We made friends with lots of neighbors and through volunteering at a local food bank and various other community projects. Another fantastic aspect was a visit from my mum and her partner Chris. While on a video call, Mum took one look at my setting and the classic Americana porch I was sitting on and booked a trip.
Chris had never been to the US before and he loved his first experience. We enjoyed 10 days together, probably the most we have been able to spend in all of my adult life. We hopped around Durham’s cool bar scene, ate amazing BBQ, and even got to watch the Durham Bulls. Chris fulfilled a dream of eating hotdogs at a baseball game. It was $1 hotdog night, so I believe he ate 4!
Further Info About House Sitting in Durham, NC
After learning of Durham we later discovered it is a hotbed for house sitting possibilities. 3 other houses on the same street as us were listed during our 2.5 months in Bull City.
Hannah and I had no trouble securing 2 more lengthy sits in the same area as before. We can’t wait to catch up with our former hosts Peter and Janene, our friends at the food bank, and the other neighbors and locals we enjoyed getting to know.
Get Signed Up!
It’s free to start browsing the listings on Trusted Housesitters. Simply sign up with your email address and you can have a look at the thousands of current active listings. Click here to get started.
If you’re interested in applying for any, you’ll need to sign up officially. The annual fee is just $129 and includes a year’s worth of house sitting opportunities with no further fees or additional costs to pay ever. You’ll also get a 25% discount when you use the code BEACHES25 at checkout, click here to get signed up today.
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