Cary is a town in Wake, Chatham, and Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

[16][17] However, their numbers were greatly reduced due to smallpox epidemics, resulting from contact with Europeans who carried the disease and having no prior immunity.

[20] The next day, Raleigh surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman, and Major General Francis Preston Blair Jr. led the XVII Corps (Union Army) into Cary and established headquarters at the Nancy Jones House, the former home of Jones of Crabtree that had become a tavern and stagecoach stop on the road between Raleigh and Chapel Hill.

[35][36][37] The Raleigh and Augusta Air–Line Railroad arrived in Cary in 1879, creating Fetner Junction just north of downtown and spurring further growth.

[20] One Cary garden club began growing gourds and showed their products and related crafts at the North Carolina State Fair.

[46][47][48] After World War II, Cary began to attract industry, including the Taylor Biscuit Company (later Austin Foods), which became the town's largest employer with some 200 employees.

[20] The population and number of developments in Cary continued to increase in the 1960s and 1970s after the opening of the nearby Research Triangle Park (RTP) in 1959.

[26][42][49] This rapid growth was planned; the State built a four-lane road between Cary and the Research Triangle Park as part of the agreement to attract RTP to North Carolina.

[50][51] Historian Jordan R. Bauer says, "The sleepy town of Cary...was the ideal place for an emerging class of scientific and technical workers".

[52] Other ways Cary dealt with the rapid growth in the 1960s was adopting subdivision regulations in 1961, updating zoning ordinances and their land use plan in 1963, and connecting to Raleigh's sewer and water systems in the early 1960s.

[54] To preserve its small-town feel, of Cary formed the Community Appearance Commission in 1972, which focused on regulating the look of downtown through sign ordinances.

[52] The Land Dedication Ordinance of 1974 required developers to set aside one acre of green space for every 35 housing units constructed.

[61] The landscape is typically gentle to moderate sloping hills separated by narrow V-shaped valleys, but there are areas with steeper slopes and broader, U-shaped valleys in western Cary, roughly along NC 55 near the Research Triangle Park and north of Green Hope School Road.

[63][64] Jordan Lake is a large reservoir, flood control, and recreational facility that abuts part of western Cary.

[3][15][14] According to the American Community Survey, an estimated 68.4% of adults in Cary age 25 years or older have a bachelor's degree or higher.

[94] Located in western Cary, the 210 acres (85 ha) Carpenter Historic District is a former rural crossroads that features late Victorian and Colonial Revival buildings, dating from 1895 to 1933.

[110] The primary structure in the district is the c. 1895/1916 brick Carpenter Farm Supply Company which has been described as "the most substantial early twentieth-century store building in rural Wake County".

[112] Most historic structures in the district are along Green Level Church Road, including community buildings, farms, houses, and stores.

[112] The c. 1916 Alious H. and Daisey Mills farmhouse is the largest building in the historic district and features a hip roof and slender Doric columns on its porch.

[112] The one-story Vick and Mattie Council House was built in the 19th century and featured Victorian detailing, such as patterned shingles and decorative vents.

[112] SAS Institute has led the way in bringing modern high-rise architecture to Cary but has placed its 25 buildings in a 900 acres (360 ha) parklike setting away from the historic core of town.

[114][117] Cary is also home to the Sri Venkateswara Temple which has an 87 ft (27 m) tall Rajagopuram, or monumental entrance tower, making it the tallest structure of its kind in the United States.

[122] As of 2007, Cary is also home of the USA Baseball National Training Complex, located within the 221 acres (89 ha) Thomas Brooks Park.

[137] Part of the federal government's Department of Homeland Security, ICE has leased an office in Cary for more than ten years.

[150] GoTriangle operates fixed-route buses that serve Wake County and connect to Go transit systems in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

[151][150] Amtrak's Silver Star, Carolinian, and Piedmont passenger trains stop at the Cary Station, providing service to Charlotte, New York City, Miami, and intermediate points.

[8] The 23 mi (37 km) American Tobacco Trail, built on a retired section of railroad, passes through parts of Cary.

[170] Dominion Energy has provided natural gas to Cary since 2019, when it acquired the Public Service Company of North Carolina.

[175][176] The first town-wide IoT project was a smart water monitoring system with analytics from the SAS Institute, which can detect leaks.

In late 2021, Cary announced a new tech-focused Center of Excellence that brings together the town, SAS, and Semtech Corporation, to create new community services and expand the digital infrastructure.