- Joined
- Sep 2, 2019
- Location
- Raleigh, North Carolina
Today I visited the grounds of Dorothea Dix Park here in Raleigh, NC, and took photos of this boulder near the park's entrance. Local tradition holds that the inscriptions on this rock were made by Union soldiers encamped here from April 13, 1865, when the city was surrendered, until the army marched back north around the end of April. The Dix property and surrounding country was an important encampment area for Gen. Sherman's army.
The inscriptions are faint and hard to make out, but they could be names of soldiers or their units. Nearby is another rock with inscriptions, but that is on the grounds of the high-security Central Prison and hard to access.
At the time of the Civil War, the Dorothea Dix campus was a psychiatric hospital ("Insane Asylum") and continued as such until the last patient was moved out in 2012. The City of Raleigh purchased the property from the state in 2015 to develop an urban park.
I'd love to hear if anyone can make out or recognize anything from these carvings!
The inscriptions are faint and hard to make out, but they could be names of soldiers or their units. Nearby is another rock with inscriptions, but that is on the grounds of the high-security Central Prison and hard to access.
At the time of the Civil War, the Dorothea Dix campus was a psychiatric hospital ("Insane Asylum") and continued as such until the last patient was moved out in 2012. The City of Raleigh purchased the property from the state in 2015 to develop an urban park.
I'd love to hear if anyone can make out or recognize anything from these carvings!
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