Longtime Raleigh Shopping Center Cameron Village Receives New Name

Following a year where calls for racial justice and equality were amplified nationwide, one company in North Carolina is taking steps to address its controversial name. The Cameron Village shopping center has been rebranded as Village District, removing the name long associated with a pre-Civil War plantation owner.

"Last year was a year like no other in recent memory," Regency Centers, owner of the Village District, said in a statement on its website. "There were pains, disruptions, and tragedies that caused each of us to take a step back and examine our responsibilities to the communities we serve."

The Raleigh staple was named after and built on plantation land owned by Duncan Cameron prior to the Civil War, where he owned one of the largest groups of enslaved people in the state.

"In Raleigh, Regency has made great efforts to listen and better understand history about the name Cameron Village that has been overlooked for generations. As a result, we are announcing the decision to remove the Cameron name from one of Raleigh's most iconic landmarks."

Regency Centers said the name change "was not a decision taken lightly," and that the York family, who purchased the land in 1947, was supportive of the shopping center's name change.

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