Chapel Hill Historical Society and Downtown Partnership unveil virtual historical tour

The Chapel Hill Historical Society and Downtown Chapel Hill Partnership launched a virtual, self-guided tour through the history of Chapel Hill. 

QR codes are posted on the windows of various local establishments, including Chapel Hill Tire, Carolina Coffee Shop and Sutton’s Drug Store, that can direct people to the Chapel Hill Historical Society’s website explaining the history of each establishment.

Chapel Hill Historical Society Vice President Joe Petrizzi said the project was first suggested at one of the society’s board meetings three years ago. It then took three years to build the website, write, edit and put the brochures together, he said.

Jeri Lynn Schulke, Downtown Chapel Hill Partnership executive director, said one of the reasons the CHDP wanted to highlight the town’s history through the virtual tour was because of their past success with sharing nostalgic content of the town on social media.

Petrizzi said he hopes the QR codes cause an accidental learning of Chapel Hill’s history and the people behind the businesses when community members and visitors come across the establishments.

“You could be here for a game,” he said. “You could be here for graduation. You could be a student meeting friends, and you happen by one of these, and, before you know it, you scan it and you're learning more about Chapel Hill history, even if you didn't set out to do so that day.”

Missy Julian-Fox, a Chapel Hill Historical Society board member, said another goal with the tour was to focus on parts of Chapel Hill’s history that are not frequently talked about. 

Having previously worked at the Chapel Hill Visitor Center as a tour guide, Julian-Fox said she realized there were a notable amount of stories Black community members knew that the rest of the community did not. 

“It felt so important — because, having grown up in this town and thinking you know the history, and then realizing, oh my gosh — there's so much, even someone so interested in knowing doesn't know,” Julian-Fox said. “So, how do we make it more accessible? How do we bring it all together? Because it's one town with so many different kinds of stories.”

She also said she wants to clear up misconceptions about businesses and business owners through the tour. Owning a business demands a partnership with the community, she said, and the tour provides people with a sense of belonging within the community’s history.

“What you hopefully learn in this QR code tour is that the people and the families behind the businesses are just like you and me,” Julian-Fox said. "They have certain talents, they have certain skills, they're passionate about certain things and they're using their businesses as that venue just like an artist would use paint.”

Chapel Hill is an important town for many historical reasons, Schulke said, including being home to the first public university, and should have its own museum. She said it would be a disservice for people to not have a resource to learn about the town’s history.

Schulke also said she would love to see another version of the tour that delves into the history of the people associated with each establishment, showcasing memories including photos of owners sitting outside of their business.

“So you’re learning about the building and the history of the building, but also the people and their stories because they also all made up Chapel Hill,” Schulke said. “They contributed to, at their time — or maybe even now — to our town, and for people to know all these different stories — what did they contribute? What did they bring to Chapel Hill?”

Petrizzi said he hopes the project continues to expand to feature more locations in Chapel Hill, including every location on Franklin, from the day they were built to modern day.

“In Chapel Hill, we pride ourselves on [how] there's room for everyone,” Julian-Fox said. “And, truthfully, historically, we may have made room, but that doesn't mean we liked it, or that we were open-armed and facilitated a lot — and that's the way the country was. But, how do we know how to do it better when we don't know anything about how it was done?”

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