ROLESVILLE -- Southern hospitality remains the signature of Rolesville, a town that evokes the image of a 1990s Mayberry with plans to grow.
     This town of 850 people just northeast of Raleigh remains a one-stoplight crossroads village, but growth is changing its rural landscape.
     The town's charm has attracted many newcomers, who discover periodic chicken barbecue dinners and Main Street's corner market and grill.
     Walk into Town Hall and Mayor Joe Winfree is likely to greet you with a smile and an offer of fresh fruit or vegetables. The mayor makes house visits to locals who call with minor problems, such as leaky faucets.
     Across the street from Town Hall, you'll find Vernon Murray, owner of the Rolesville Supermarket, in the store bagging up groceries and carrying them out to customers' cars, while his wife is at the grill, serving up old-fashioned pork barbecue and pitchers of sweetened iced tea.
     But things are changing in this town.
     A new day care center has popped up in town, and four subdivisions -- Al's Acres, Olde Towne, Wall Creek and Watkins Farm -- all have expanded in the past year, said Don Dubay, town administrator.
     Town offices recently moved into a new, bigger location in a real estate company's former office.
     The Town Board of Commissioners agreed last year to lower housing development fees in hopes of spurring construction of more homes. Town officials are applying for a loan to extend water and sewer lines to boost growth in Rolesville, Dubay said. In 1993, Rolesville -- the second-oldest town in Wake County -- became the last municipality to get a sewer system, to replace aging septic tanks.
     Down rural U.S. 401 is the town's elementary school and a shopping center with a video rental store, an independent dry cleaning business, a gas station, a new hardware store and fast-food restaurants. The town's older residents wake up early to eat biscuits and drink coffee in Hardee's.
     With subdivisions and businesses popping up faster than weeds, there are signs that the development boom engulfing the Raleigh-Durham area is sending sparks flying toward Rolesville. The town's population is expected to double within five years.
     State transportation officials held workshops with homeowners last year to discuss a multimillion dollar proposal to widen U.S. 401 in Wake and Franklin counties and give Rolesville a bypass. The widening will stretch the town's main thoroughfare from Ligon Mill Road to Fox Park Road in Louisburg. Officials hope to begin construction on the road in mid-1999.