The Best Independent Living Communities in Wake County, NC

"I chose to live here in Abbotswood at Stonehenge because I have more room than I had where I was living before. I've got a separate bedroom now, which I like, and I am impressed with how long most of the staff have been here. They've been pretty loyal to the place and are pretty attentive to the residents. The food has been good, too, and the service I've received is better. I am in the independent living, but you can get more services if you need them. Although it'll cost you more, it's available here. They have a lot of activities. They have certain nights and times when they play dominoes or do trivia nights."

"It was beautiful. The room that I saw was large and had a lovely view. The people and their dining room were very nice. They had activities. However, they had a very long waiting list. "

"Atria Oakridge is comforting because it is in my neighborhood. I like the presentation the young lady gave me there. I like their rooms, and I like the sunroom. I just felt very comfortable living there. I like the two-meal-a-day program. Also a lot of things that they do are great. I met some people there that really seemed to enjoy it very much. Their activities are very informal. They are nice activities and inexpensive. I like the atmosphere. It isn't stuffy. It is about 10 years old, so it isn't brand new but it isn't very old either. The most important thing is that it is right in my neighborhood. It is also well-maintained and clean."

"small apartments but having the washer and dryer inside is great. I love the large kitchen and do cook at least one meal a day"

"I went to Jordan Oaks, and it was a perfect facility for me. It would be close to my children, closer than I am now. When you first walk in, you walk in to this beautiful foyer, and everything is decorated so elegantly. To the right, there was a big baby grand piano, and as you go into the dining room, somebody plays during each meal -- impressive luncheon dinner, very elegant, and the dining room itself was like a four-star restaurant. They have a four-star chef and a nutritionist that works there full-time to meet all the nutritional needs of the residents. So they work extensively with the chef on what people can have and cannot have. They serve breakfast at a certain time in the morning, lunch at a certain time, and dinner at a certain time. But if you miss breakfast, they have sort of like a little meeting room -- a coffee room on each floor -- that they keep fresh fruits, cereal, and sweets in, and they have a refrigerator in there. "

"Reserve at Mills Farm is a brand-new facility, but a little more homey. It's rustic. The grounds have a pond nearby. It's very close to facilities like grocery stores and Costco. It's only three levels, and they move from independent living to memory care as well. I really liked their memory care concept, which is like cabins. You share a common area in a cabin with five other people, but you have individual rooms, so your staff ratio is very small. They have at least two to one person per patient or resident in the memory care. I really liked the staff ratio. I liked the pod concept instead of individual rooms down a long hallway. You're in a circular cabin, and you just come out into a common area when you want to be out and have your meals and so forth. It has a cozier effect. What I liked about these pods is that they are ranch-style with gardens around them, so they give you a feeling of safety without realizing that you can't wander out of the area. It's almost like a little home. They had a hairdresser onsite. They had a pharmacy onsite, so you could transfer all of your medicines to their pharmacy, and everything could be done in-house. All of the staff members were very caring, nice, and accommodating. They had a big community dining hall and a very nicely furnished ground floor, so you could walk out onto the patio."

"I visited The Cambridge at Brier Creek. They are excellent. It was very high class and very nice. They're welcoming. The young lady who showed us around was just excellent and gave us all the time we needed. The building is a couple of years old, so basically it's new. The apartments have very nice touches to them, like wood floors and up-to-date appliances. It's nice, fresh, and light. They have amenities. They have an exercise person onsite every day, and they have health care. It's just very nice. They have movies and all kinds of things to do."

"What we like most about Brier Pointe Retirement Community is that it doesn't use points in the restaurant. They just do it, no points involved, so that was nice. They had a pharmacy that was located there, where people could go in and get their drugs or whatever else they needed. There was a lounge that had soft-serve ice cream. They had the restaurant, which we liked as well. It had bonuses, buffets, and other things involved, other than just the food. My interaction with the staff was good. It's very clean. It's only three years old. It's an apartment building. It's not as nice as the other place that had ponds and other things. This just had a fire pit. It is surrounded by other homes and things like that, but they do travel and put people on shuttles and take them to places."

"The staff are caring, attentive & friendly. The activities are numerous & fun. I enjoyed the musical entertainment when I attended an event at the community. There are many planned outings for the residents including shopping trips & lunches out at restaurants. "

"Our tour at Cambridge Village of Apex was quite favorable. It's one of the three places that my wife and I consider. The staff who showed us around was very nice, it was actually off hours when we went there but they had someone there take us on a tour. We looked at the particular room arrangement that we were interested in, it was a very favorable presentation. The advantages that I felt was that the bedroom was a larger size than other places, and the amount of closet space they have available. They have programs for physical therapy and rehabilitation which is very important. They also have social programs available."

"I visited the Lodge at Wake Forest, and I enjoyed it. It was very nice. The people were very friendly. I liked all the amenities they have. We stayed there for lunch, talked to a resident who had been there for a long time, and she was very happy. The food is good, we saw the menu, and you can select off the menu every day. They serve snacks, sandwiches and cookies all day long, and you can always go there to take something. The meal times are set, so you can eat if you missed the meals. However, the rooms were a little too small for my furniture, and they don't have a kitchenette, and that's what I needed. It's in a good location. The staff member was very helpful, she showed me the rooms, and the staff member in the dining room was very pleasant."

"I will be moving into Bartlett Reserve. It was nice and clean. Everybody was friendly, so I had a good feeling about the place. There wasn't anything about it that I didn't like. I liked the layout. I liked the people. They fed us. I didn't eat at the time, but my son said the food was good. It was more an apartment-style living. I'm fully satisfied with it. I saw a gym, a salon, and a pool. They have several different activity rooms, conference rooms, and a room for you to have friends over for tea or parties, just anything you want."

"We went to Atria Southpoint Walk. The tour was great. They were very good. They showed me everything and told me about all the different services that they offer, which I wasn't interested in at the time. The rooms were nice sized. They provided everything. They have game rooms and eating facilities. They have the whole works there as far as the amenities go. They have exercise rooms. The dining area was set up very nicely. They provided a good array of food. I just wasn't that much into it because I'm very independent. I would provide everything for myself. They had the rooms and they had the cottages and their own little patios out there. The outdoor was pretty standard. The staff was extremely good, very informational, very courteous, and very professional."

"Durham Regent seemed fine, and I’m satisfied. The staff and rooms are fine and the food is adequate. "