The town is semirural and still retains traces of its colonial past in both its architecture and small-town atmosphere. Durham is an ideal place to live while completing a graduate degree.
Campus life includes a wide range of musical, theatrical, sporting, and social events.
Boston is a quick 65 miles to the south. Outdoor enthusiasts will find abundant skiing, hiking, and scenery in the White Mountains 60 miles to the north and the sandy beaches and rocky coast of New Hampshire and Maine 10 miles east. The University is sited on a 200-acre campus, surrounded by rolling fields, farms and woodlands. The 15-acre tract, known as the Ravine, graces the center of the campus and provides members of the university community with some natural quiet amid the 74 classroom, research, and service buildings and 36 residential buildings of the campus.