Camp Riverlea is a summer day camp in the Durham, NC area for children entering grades K – 7th. Camp Riverlea was founded in 1971 and continues to be a summer camp tradition for Durham children. At the time of writing, Camp Riverlea offers bus transportation, included in tuition, from three stops in Durham:
- Hillandale Rd.
This bus stop is located at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church at 1737 Hillandale Rd., Durham, NC 27705. The stop is at the back of the church parking lot. - Duke (Crest St Park)
The Duke bus stop is located at Crest Street Park, off Erwin and Fulton (which turns into Hillandale road). The park is near the VA and DCRI. If it’s raining, there is a pavilion for cover.
- Forest Hills
The Forest Hills Bus Stop is located in a gravel parking lot on East Forest Hills Boulevard, near the intersection with University Drive and behind the tennis courts.
Camp Smart Commute Challenge
As part of the Summer Camp Smart Commute Challenge, I will be biking my kid to the Hillandale Rd. bus stop. There are two viable paths to reach St. Luke’s from the Watts Hillandale / Old West Durham neighborhoods. If you cut through some private property from Arrowhead Drive you can get past the playground entrance to the parking lot where the Camp Riverlea but picks up. Normally I wouldn’t recommend trespassing, but the goat trails on the side of Hillandale aren’t a very good option either as they would require biking in the middle of the lane and delaying car traffic or walking along the paths in the shoulder and private property.
There is a project to add a bike lane and multiuse path to Hillandale but your guess is as good as mine as to when that will be complete. Check out DCHC MPO Durham Project U-4726HN – it was started 9/29/2015 and now has an estimated completion in 2026 (11+ years!).
