Role tide: North Carolina's fastest-growing burg, sitting in the path of Raleigh's sprawl hopes to retain a bit of its small-town charm.

• Author: Dodson, Jim
• Position: Town Square

Above the din of noontime conversation at the crowded Rolesville Diner, a pair of posters on facing walls articulate what's on many minds in this once-sleepy farming community 20 miles northeast of Raleigh. One poster features a field of sunflowers and the word, "Growth," the other a beautiful hardwood tree on a hill with the word, "Change." Both dynamics have more than casual significance in this Wake County town that grew 24% in 2014 alone, the fastest pace in the state.

"Yeah, I heard about that," says Samuel Green, waiting by the diner's front door to pick up an order of chicken and dumplings for his wife. "I guess they finished the bypass not a minute too soon, with so many people wanting to move here nowadays." Green, who moved to town a decade ago after retiring from his job as a postal worker in Paterson, N.J., mentions the newcomers he's encountered of late from New England and the Midwest. Most commute to Raleigh from vast new neighborhoods that stretch in all directions over fields that not long ago produced tobacco and cotton. "They're all nice folks and seem happy to be here," Green adds. "Some came to get away from the bad weather up north. Others say it's because this place is still kinda slow-paced--at least for the moment. That's my theory, anyway."

Depending on who you ask, Rolesville's explosive growth is either a blessing or a curse. "There's an upside and a downside," says fellow diner Ashley Price, a student at Wake Tech Community College who is enjoying lunch with her father, Connie. "True, I can go to college just down the road, but if we get all these city folks moving here, next thing the town may do is say, 'no farm animals allowed in city limits,' like they do down in Raleigh." She grew up around horses and plans to open her own grooming and training facility. "If that day ever comes," she adds with a feisty grin, "I'll be saddlin' up, ridin' out of town fast."

Price's father laughs, sipping his iced tea. A former farmer who ran Rolesville's only auto-repair shop for years, he hails from one of the town's older families. Today, he has a job maintaining State Highway Patrol vehicles. "This life don't stand still," he adds with a shake of the head. "But some of us still wish it was kind of like it was in Rolesville before Raleigh discovered us."

That discovery happened in the early 1990s when Raleigh annexed parts of town that stretched six miles south to the Neuse River, according to Rolesville Mayor Frank Eagles...