Keep discovering.

The Forest community offers literally hundreds of options for learning, doing, sharing, and teaching⁠—from woodworking and fitness, to guest lectures and movie nights, and everything in between.

Active people need engaging things to do. The Forest at Duke has endless options that deliver meaningful and memorable experiences and was designed and built to encourage interpersonal interaction. Our spaces are open and filled with stimulating art and activity. It seems there is always something to do!

Our campus boasts a long list of amenities for your pleasure and convenience:

• The art studio houses a pottery kiln and all manner of art supplies and materials. Offering plenty of elbow room, storage, and table space to boot, the studio is a comfortable place of inspiration and creation for new and seasoned artists alike.

• With a seating capacity of just over 170, the auditorium is our most popular venue for lectures, concerts, readings, dances, singalongs, and a number of other exciting events. This space is equipped with a wireless assistive listening audio system that improves auditorium experiences for those with hearing impairments.

• A full service and comfortable place to meet neighbors and savor a meal or sip a cold beverage, our club room, the Taproot, houses a spacious bar, billiards tables, board games, cards, and a large flat screen television.

• Nestled among cottages just off of Forest at Duke Drive, the community garden is a peaceful and lovely escape, a campus favorite for many team members and residents alike! The garden is filled with beautiful blooms, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, all thriving in the North Carolina sunshine. The plants, grown and nurtured in 4’ x 8’ raised beds, are lovingly tended by Forest residents. On any given day, you’ll find friendly pollinators hard at work among the flowers!

• Our fitness center features state-of-the-art Keiser strength training equipment, operating on compressed air so that resistance can be adjusted a single pound at a time. The facility also offers 2 NuStep recumbent cross trainers, a SCIFIT Latitude Lateral Stability Trainer, two ellipticals, a rowing machine, three treadmills, an upright and recumbent bike, free weights, medicine balls, and bands. Supervised training hours, during which a certified personal trainer is present in the gym, are available. Cable-ready television and a table for stretching further add to the comfort of your workout. Nearby locker rooms provide hair dryers, lockers for day use, and a suit spinner to dry your swimwear after a dip in the pool. Showers are stocked with shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel.

• With proceeds benefiting the Benevolent Fund, the gift shop is managed by a group of resident volunteers. Its inventory includes greeting cards, jewelry, books, scarves, and a miscellany of other eye-catching merchandise.

• No matter the weather outside, the plants and blooms inside The Forest’s greenhouse are always quite cozy. Snug-as-a-bug in their 85°F home – and given a steady diet of sunshine, water, and plenty of love from dedicated residents – the blossoms and greenery inside these walls couldn’t be happier!

• Featuring tall mirrors, a ballet bar, free weights, yoga mats, chairs, yoga blocks and straps, pillows for meditation, and a sound system for music, the 1,109-square-foot group exercise studio is a comfortable space used to host a multitude of fitness classes and activities. In addition to daily table tennis matches, the studio makes space for everything from folk dance and Zumba to cardio classes and meditation.

• Two hair salons provide numerous salon services to keep you looking your very best.

• Relaxing jets in the hot tub are sure to soothe away the aches of the day. Ranging from 4 to 4½ feet deep, our 17-meter indoor saline swimming pool, maintained at a comfortable 86°F, is a great place to swim laps or simply enjoy a refreshing dip. The pool is open 24 hours a day and houses a sound system so that music can be played during water fitness classes. The large, nearly floor-to-ceiling windows perfectly complement your time in the water, providing a picturesque view of the lovely natural area just steps away.

• Containing about 3,500 books, many in large print, the light and airy library is located on the first floor of the Community Center, next to the main entrance. This recently renovated amenity, open 24 hours a day, also features collections of books penned by resident authors, as well as DVDs, CDs, and jigsaw puzzles. The Forest is proud to feature a computerized catalog that can be accessed from resident homes.

• The living room, located in the Community Center, is a cozy place to sit and chat with friends. Arranged with comfortable sofas and chairs and ample throw pillows, it’s the perfect, homey setting for a small gathering of friends or a quiet read by the fireplace.

• Our 600 sq. ft. native plants pollinator garden, added to The Forest in October 2021, grows happily on campus in the open area at the intersection of Willow Oak and Forest at Duke Drives. With 300+ plants of 20+ varieties, an array of blooms will provide nectar and pollen from spring to fall. Many of the plants will also serve as pollinator insect host plants, providing these beneficial insects a place to successfully reproduce. In the fall, as plants go to seed, many bird species will enjoy the bounty. As an added benefit, the garden will allow Forest residents to learn more about native plants—which ones thrive here, how they look throughout the year, and how they might be used in garden plots around the campus or at other sites where residents have the opportunity to garden.

• Original to the tobacco farm that existed on this land before The Forest at Duke was constructed, a pond is nestled between the cottages on Fountain View Lane and the two remaining tobacco barns from the old Pickett homestead. Sit beneath the shade of the curing barns and enjoy the soothing sound of a bubbling water feature. Stroll across the wooden bridge for a better view of a resident duck family gliding by and admire the wildflowers growing on the water’s edge.

• Care to take a leisurely spin around campus on a beautiful day? Our two recreational trikes are ready for you! Each one a DeSoto Classic, these popular adult three-wheelers are comfortable, easy to maneuver, and offer a low step-through design for easy access. If you have a handbag, cardigan, or even an armful of other items to carry along on your pedaling adventure, the generously sized rear basket will store your belongings until you arrive at your destination. The trikes are available to all Forest residents for free use and simply require an reservation to ensure one is available for a ride. These are a great way to exercise, gather up some Vitamin D, and wave “hello” to your neighbors along the way!

• Our transportation team is an incredible asset to The Forest community. Boasting two Subaru Foresters, a Nissan Altima, two 12-passenger vans, and an 8-passenger van, the department will soon add a wheelchair-accessible van to its fleet to better serve Forest residents. With a whole host of courteous, friendly drivers at their service, Forest residents may take advantage of on-campus shuttles as well as off-campus transport to virtually any destination in the Triangle area (Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill). That includes medical appointments, shopping destinations, local entertainment venues, restaurants, the airport…you name it! Transportation and concierge services are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., as well as after hours and on weekends, pending team member availability.

• The Forest woodshop is located in a separate small building on the back of the property. Available for residents to work on individual or group projects, the woodshop is also used by Forest maintenance team members for general woodworking projects. Primary power tools available in the shop include a 10” table saw, 14” ban saw, 8” joiner, 10” radial arm saw, 16” x 42” wood lathe, 12” laser miter saw, 17” drill press, and 15” planer. The woodshop further contains many other specialized power tools, sanders, handheld power tools, dust collectors, and miscellaneous items.