“My Memories from the Cary Library”

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Library

Cary, NC — I spent a lot of time at the Cary Library when I was a kid. 

The Downtown Cary Library

By now, you’ve probably heard about the plans for the Downtown Cary Library. A new library will be built at the corner of Walnut Street and Kildaire Farm Road (across from the Cary Arts Center and Cary Elementary), and the site of the old library on Academy Street will be used for something different. The new Cary Library will be more than double the size of its predecessor.

I’m glad that the library is evolving with the rest of Downtown Cary, I, like a lot of longtime Cary residents, have many fond memories there.

Memories

I spent a lot of the 90’s in the Cary Library – when I was really young, it was a place to pick out books and read stories with my parents. When I got older, it was a place to kill time before my music lesson down the street. Now, 15 years later, I still visit the library at least twice a month.

Each time I do, I’m reminded of all the hours I spent there. Right when I open up those glass doors and get hit by the rush of inside air, I remember.

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Call me crazy, but the library has this distinct smell – it’s a good smell, like the pages of old books. The library has smelled the same for as long as I can remember.

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I also remember this corner – if you have kids, you probably know it well, too. It looks a little different now, but it’s where I sat reading storybooks with my parents.

I was mostly quiet and well-behaved in the library, but I also loved running and jumping up and down those carpet steps. Books and a playground – what more could you need?

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Later, when I was in middle school, I’d sit right here to do my homework. I remember agonizing over tricky math problems – it’s nice to not have to worry about those anymore.

What Do You Remember?

In my opinion,  losing this library to something newer and bigger is exciting but bittersweet. I know I’ll miss the old library and enjoy the new one all at the same time.

What memories do you have at the Cary Library?

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Story and photos by Jessica Patrick.

2 replies
  1. Janet Conner
    Janet Conner says:

    We go back even farther than that! I took our 3 children there beginning in the early ’80’s! We loved the children’s librarian Karen, don’t recall her last name, but she was gentle and soft-spoken and great at story-telling! We continued checking out books there all through the 80’s and 90’s until the last child graduated in 2004!
    Then we could also go to Eva Perry, a larger, regional library.
    We met lifelong friends there, a refugee family with 3 boys, from Cambodia. Like you, the Cary Library has always been a special place for us.

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