Welcome to Raleigh, NC!

[Eleanor Rose]

It's about a two hour drive for @Southern Unionist and me when we visit Raleigh, our state capital. We always enjoy our overnight stays in the heart of downtown because we're surrounded by nice restaurants, interesting bars, museums and local shops. Better still, we're in easy walking distance of the Capitol. The Capitol grounds are a lovely place to take a stroll with your sweetie!

Our morning began with a beautiful sunrise reflected almost perfectly in the tall building outside our hotel window. A great day was born!

Later in the day, @Southern Unionist shot the same building from our hotel window. I love how the lighting makes it look like some parts of the building are transparent.

Our pre-Civil War state capitol.

Close up of the monument memoralizing the three presidents who were born in NC. Johnson on the right became president after Lincoln's assassination. Polk on the left remains an ongoing controversy with our South Carolina neighbors. We only know the approximate location of the cabin where he was born. The state lines have been resurveyed in that area and this has created a bit of a murky situation.

This is my favorite monument on the Capitol grounds. It is dedicated to the NC Women of the Confederacy. The expression on the woman's face as she recounts the story of the Civil War to a child makes me sad.

There is a relief on each side of the monument. Many fail to notice the story they each portray. The one on the right shows a soldier being sent off to war with some fanfare. The one on the left shows his dead body being returned to his loved ones. Cue the water works for Eleanor Rose.

Monument dedicated to the NC Confederate dead.

The Lincoln Theater has long been a favorite spot for folks to enjoy live music. This was the first place where we heard Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. The group went on to become fairly successful, appearing a couple of times on The Jay Leno Show. Grace can really sing, but it doesn't hurt that she has very nice legs and loves to show them off. I love the painting on the side of their building. It shows President Lincoln driving what else, but a Lincoln!

The view of the Capitol looking up the street from our hotel.

You've probably figured out by now that @Southern Unionist and I like to travel. I hope you enjoy making this trip to Raleigh with us!

 

[amweiner]

These are great, @Eleanor Rose!!!! Have a great trip, learn a lot, and you and @Southern Unionist have safe journeys home.

 

[LoriAnn]

Many fail to notice the story they each portray.

Yes, and thank you for highlighting this. I know there is always more to the story with many monuments ~ details and references ~ and I hate missing them.

 

[bdtex]

Great pictures. Have not been to NC yet. Hope to some day.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Great pictures. Have not been to NC yet. Hope to some day.

Please visit! It's a beautiful state. The Outer Banks make for a great beach escape and the mountains are equally enticing. You would enjoy exploring Wilmington too.

 

[nitrofd]

Some great pics with great narration.I have never been there but it would go on my bucket list if I could travel.I love the back roads to explore.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

I'm getting emotional looking at some of these pics along with reading your thoughts @Eleanor Rose . Thanks for sharing. It's looks beautiful.

 

[FarawayFriend]

Great photos!
We have been to the NC coast, the Outer Banks, Charlotte and the NC mountains, but never to Raleigh. Seems we have missed something! I hope there will be a "next time" for me!

 

[Will Carry]

From the highest mountains east of the Mississippi to the wild secluded beaches on the outer banks, I love North Carolina.
The Triangle area is between Raleigh (North Carolina State Wolfpack), Durham (Duke University Blue Devils) and Chapel Hill (UNC Tarheels. When you say Chapel Hill you have to keep your teeth closed like Thurston Howell III. We call them the wine and cheese crowd.) This area of North Carolina is booming. A great place to be.

 

[J. Horace]

And North Carolina continues to grow as many of our Northern friends have been moving to NC to enjoy the delights of Southern Hospitality and our genteel society.

 

[nc native]

I'm glad your enjoying you stay in Raleigh! There is a lot to do in the capital city these days
and if Barney Fife comes to town to party here you know its got to be a wide open city! If
I'd kown you folks were in town, I could have given you a list of a few places to go eat at with
good food that wouldn't break the budget and with very good cusine. (the cost of living is
going up with all that's going on in Raleigh these days) I live about fifteen minutes from
downtown when the traffic is right,

It's actually Andrew Jackson that the controversy is about being born in North Carolina. That
is still going on with South Carolina and who knows who can claim him as a native son. Who
knows how that will end up. James Polk is definitely a North Carolina native who was born in
Mecklenburg County where Charlotte is located. Andrew Johnson was born in the back of a
tailor's shop in Raleigh, N.C. PM me if you need any infomation while you are here.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I love your photo narrations! I can see and feel the emotions of that woman recounting the terrible times to that child. And I can feel the emotions of the poor mother/wife receiving the body of the dead man. I think one of the saddest things I ever read in a diary was of a mother, in the south, making a rail journey and there wasn't a seat for her in the cars. So she sat on the wooden coffin of her son as she brought him back home. I'm sure the woman, that's a statue, is telling of things like that.

 

[nc native]

And North Carolina continues to grow as many of our Northern friends have been moving to NC to enjoy the delights of Southern Hospitality and our genteel society.

A few too many for my taste when I get stuck in rush hour traffic sometimes but it is good
to see that the Old North State is growing and our new citizens seem to enjoy and appreciate
what we have to offer here. My favorite neighbors moved in from Ohio around thirty years
ago and we get along wonderfully!

 

[nc native]

Some great pics with great narration.I have never been there but it would go on my bucket list if I could travel.I love the back roads to explore.

The back roads are my favorite part on North Carolina to visit these days. There is still
plenty of natural beauty to be seen and to be honest with you, the people are a little more
friendly the further you get from the large urban areas. (contrary to public opinion in some
of the social circles in other parts of America, scenes from the movie Deliverance are not
reenacted out in the rural parts of our state)

 

[Will Carry]

When I moved to Parkwood you could walk into the woods and walk all the way to Lillington 60 miles away and never leave the woods. Now they are building thousands of Yankee houses and the woods are gone for miles. Yankee houses are two story row houses on a tiny lot. They have a small footprint so you can build more houses on the land and are tall so you have enough square footage to charge a lot of money for the home. If one house catches fire it usually burns the house next door because they are only 6 feet apart. In Morrisville not far from me, they built a Cricket field. Cricket! Have ever heard the score of a Cricket match? "The score was 7 to 3 and 6." It doesn't make sense. I can't figure out who won.

 

[Southern Unionist]

I had no idea that a Raleigh thread would be so popular! It has very little history compared to a lot of other places we've been recently, and our capitol building is the least impressive of the eleven state capitols I've been inside. I need to go back into my archives and pull out more Raleigh pics.

At this point in my life, my biggest problem with photography is finding anything old in a reasonable amount of time and effort. I have thousands of shots stored digitally, and thousands more on 35mm negatives. Most of the historical stuff never changes, so an old shot is worth just as much as one made yesterday. Maybe over the winter I'll find time to pull out more, since people seem to like what they see from my collection.

Needing more space, the NC legislature moved a block north in the 1960's, leaving the governor and his/her staff to occupy the capitol alone. So, the old building is still the official state capitol, even though the legislature meets there only once a year, only for ceremonial purposes.

From the highest mountains east of the Mississippi to the wild secluded beaches on the outer banks, I love North Carolina.

Future threads!

I've got some work to do. It's all in the photo archives... somewhere.

When you say Chapel Hill you have to keep your teeth closed like Thurston Howell III. We call them the wine and cheese crowd.)

Funny thing is, the Duke grads can afford better wine and cheese than the UNC grads, but they aren't so pretentious and snobby about it. I'll root for ANYBODY against UNC except SC.

the cost of living is
going up with all that's going on in Raleigh these days

Parking your car downtown is just as expensive as driving it around in circles, wasting gas.

It's actually Andrew Jackson that the controversy is about being born in North Carolina.

Where's the alternate birth site? Not that I really care. I'm not an Andrew Jackson fan in any way. I'd be happy to donate him to any state that wants him.

Last I heard, the only controversy was Tennessee claiming that it didn't matter so much where he was born since he was living in Tennessee when elected. NC's response was that he was born here and moved to Tennessee before it became a state, when it was still legally the western half of NC. Never mind that he thought TN should become independent because NC s***ed. One of multiple reasons for me to dislike him. But I do enjoy his portrait on the $20 bill, especially when I'm receiving larges quantities of them from the bank. (It could be a portrait of Horton the Hoo, and I wouldn't care.)

James Polk is definitely a North Carolina native who was born in
Mecklenburg County

I've been to the simple log cabin reconstructed on the supposed original site. At the time, I was a student at UNCC, and a war of words was taking place between newspapers in Charlotte and Columbia. Columbia had two issues. First, they believed the actual cabin site was a mile and a half to the south, over the current state line. Second, they asserted that the site claimed by NC was locally believed to be in SC at the time of Polk's birth, so that should matter more than a latitude line stated in a legal document that most people of his generation had never seen nor cared about.

NC and SC have always argued about everything, so I cared little about the debate at that time. SC only wanted to say that they've produced more Presidents than NC. I say, Virginia leaves us both in the dust, so don't worry about it.

At least our unofficial state bird isn't a mosquito, which most SC natives will privately admit that they regret to be true.

 

[Southern Unionist]

contrary to public opinion in some
of the social circles in other parts of America, scenes from the movie Deliverance are not
reenacted out in the rural parts of our state

In the novel, that setting was northern Georgia.

However, there are some highly creepy areas along both sides of the NC-GA border. I could tell you a few stories. Let's just say, if I have a flat in that part of NC, I'll be driving on the rim for a while. Online, I once had a disagreement over a relatively mundane issue that provoked a local to respond that if he ever saw me around there, he would challenge me to go out back and settle this "man to man". Several of his local friends agreed, and posted memes that I cannot tastefully describe here. I don't care to be around or communicate with people who behave this way. In my head, I heard banjo music.

Have ever heard the score of a Cricket match? "The score was 7 to 3 and 6." It doesn't make sense. I can't figure out who won.

Is there anything the British can't complicate beyond human understanding?

 

[LoriAnn]

When you say Chapel Hill you have to keep your teeth closed like Thurston Howell III. We call them the wine and cheese crowd.

I'm gonna practice that.

I think one of the saddest things I ever read in a diary was of a mother, in the south, making a rail journey and there wasn't a seat for her in the cars. So she sat on the wooden coffin of her son as she brought him back home.

It doesn't matter how much time passes ~ 155 years later, mothers can read that story and feel pain.

 

[JOHN42768]

Thanks for posting

 

[Eleanor Rose]

If
I'd kown you folks were in town, I could have given you a list of a few places to go eat at with
good food that wouldn't break the budget and with very good cusine.

What a kind offer! Please share because we will be returning to Raleigh again in August. It's a nice little escape from our normal routine and fairly convenient for us to access (far better than Charlotte). Mecca has become one of our favorite spots for breakfast. Their dinner menu isn't bad either. We have also enjoyed Big Ed's City Market Restaurant. It's just good ol' country cooking!