Historic Downtown Apex is only a couple blocks long but the architecture and the colors of the buildings are beautiful.

There are more interesting shops for browsing than you will find in just about any small town in North Carolina as well as restaurants and bars and even one of the most well-stocked craft beer stores in the Triangle.

It is probably Apex's proximity to everywhere that enables it to support such a variety of businesses. Besides the fact that there are about 55,000 people living in Apex and the population continues to grow, the town is close to everywhere -- 10 minutes from Raleigh and Cary and 20 minutes from Chapel Hill and Durham.

Historic downtown is home to antique shops and bars with live music.

Central North Carolina has a history with trains. With no large rivers to navigate, folks had to rely on the railroads and Apex is one of those railroad towns. Think of the railroad the way you would think of a river and towns like Apex as a port on this steel river.

The town was named Apex because the community was the highest point on the Chatham Railroad between Richmond, Va., and Jacksonville, Fla., or because water that falls on one side of Salem Street flows to the Neuse River, while water falling on the other side of the street flows to the Cape Fear River. Take your pick.

The old train station, which was built in 1854, is now the visitors center with a real caboose that doubles as a historical center or a railway museum and on the tracks the trains still go by carrying whatever it is that trains carry in cars that can stretch half a mile or more.

Over the past several years the town has certainly revitalized. The people of Apex are quite aware that they are living somewhere special. But you should take a little trip to historic downtown Apex some nice spring or fall afternoon or a summer evening on a Friday or Saturday. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.