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Homes & Neighborhoods

While each neighborhood in Kernersville may vary in appearance, most carry the same feel of community and sense of togetherness. Neighborhood block parties, Moms’ Night Outs, and ornament and cookie swaps all provide opportunities for neighbors to come together.

The Kilburn subdivision, off Hopkins Road, has celebrated its annual autumn block party for over a decade. It expanded from a potluck dinner to an event that begins in the afternoon and lasts late into the night. Games for children start in the afternoon. The neighborhood has had a DJ and an evening fireworks show competing with a large, white full moon punctuating the clear, indigo sky.

Children decorate small pumpkins, play “go fish” by tossing their lines over a blue flannel blanket, toss bean bags into numbered boxes and march in a cake walk. A cotton candy machine whips up cones of blue and purple spun sugar. After dinner, the kids are treated to an old-fashioned hayride on a trailer pulled by an ancient tractor.

“The first year we did the hay ride, the kids chanted, ‘Kilburn rocks! Kilburn rocks!’ as they rode through the neighborhoods next to us,” says organizer Susan Smith with a laugh.

One of the original organizers, Smith good-naturedly said that she is probably stuck with the job since the party always takes place in front of her house. A few of the originators of the Kilburn Fall Festival have moved, but the yearly block party continues.

Deb Ackerman, another organizer, says that the festival is a good way to keep unity in the neighborhood. Other neighbors agree, saying that since everyone is so busy, the festival is a way to bring everyone together.

“We usually just see each other in passing. We’re busy but we do like to interact,” says Brenda Hunt.

Another Kernersville tradition is for subdivisions to line their streets with luminaries on Christmas Eve. Neighbors meet for hot chocolate and sweets as they fill white paper bags with sand and candles. Impromptu hayrides find children dropping off the bags, ready to light as the sun sets on Christmas Eve.

Despite a slowing trend in the building industry, Kernersville remains steady in the Piedmont Triad area. The Union Cross area has been one of consistent growth for many years, even earning recognition as the most rapidly developing area in the Piedmont Triad. The addition of the Carrollton development will continue this trend.

Carrollton promises to be a carefully planned community with wide sidewalks and walking trails, narrow tree-lined streets, and residential living paired with shops and restaurants for a pedestrian- neighborhood feel. The development will include a civic center for residents’ usage. Apartments, cluster homes and single-family dwellings will be included in the development.

Kernersville’s historic district provides an appealing address as well. Nancy and Rich Blakemore painstakingly restored and improved their home on Main Street. The white clapboard Victorian home is known as the Meredith House, a nod to the builder who oversaw construction circa 1900. Not much is known about the original history of the home. Nancy Blakemore’s parents, Theresa and the late James Edwards, bought it in 1949 after James had gone to photography school in Texas on his GI bill.

“They purchased it from Mr. Earl, a former mayor of Kernersville,” explains Nancy. “The deed’s original address is Salem Road instead of Main Street.”

Nancy says people were afraid that they were tearing the house down when they saw the way the porch had been removed.

“Then they realized that I would never tear this house down,” says Nancy, an active member of the Kernersville Historic Preservation Society.

From the historic homes of downtown to the spacious new luxury neighborhoods near Piney Grove Elementary and the developing communities in southern Kernersville, a variety of addresses and types of residences exists for people living in the Heart of the Triad.

“We’re very fortunate because we didn’t see huge bubble prices like the rest of the county did. We’ve stayed steady with appreciation values. In fact, as the nation dropped by 9 percent, Kernersville values rose 1.64 percent,” says Brooke Cashion, Kernersville alderman and a realtor with Allen Tate Realtors.

Cashion credits Kernersville’s designation as the county’s only full-service municipality as a key selling point to living in Kernersville, where the average home price hovers around $175,000.

“Our emergency personnel have great response time and a tremendous ability to respond to calls. This makes us a very safe community to live in,” says Cashion.

This attribute, along with the charm and friendliness of Kernersville, makes our town an ideal place to call home.