Posted by Tim Burrell

If you are relocating to Raleigh, you might want to know its original history.  Even if you have lived here for years, you might not know the story of its creation.  It is fun to see how the original idea of the City lives on.

Issac Hunter had a Tavern, with a special drink called a Cherry Bounce, with plenty of alcohol.  New Bern was the Capital of North Carolina, but its coastal location made it subject to raids by pirates and others from the sea, and there had been assassination attempts on the Governor.  So, delegates from all over North Carolina met at Issac's tavern to decide where to relocate the Capital.   The tavern was easy to reach from all parts of North Carolina, and after drinking many Cherry Bounces, the delegates decided that the new capital would be within 10 miles of Issac Hunter's Tavern.  On a personal note, the delegates were starting to focus on acquiring some land owned by a man named Hinton before they got into the Cherry Bounce drinks.  They decided to table that idea, and Mr. Hinton did not get to sell his property.  Chuck Hinton, a wonderful friend of mine, says his family's luck is still running the same way.   The foundation of the tavern can be found behind the North Raleigh Hilton at 3415 Wake Forest Road, with a historical marker on the street near the hotel.

In the late 1760's, Joel Lane built a story and a half home called Wakefield (the house was named in honor of Margaret Wake, the wife of then Governor William Tryon).  He was a planter who owned thousands of acres in what was then Johnston County.  In 1770, he  lobbied the legislature to create Wake County out of that portion of the state, an area that at the time was wilderness, and a large amount of revolutionary war period history happened at his house.  The home is now a museum that you can read about at http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/raleigh/lan.htm .  Instead of wilderness, Wake County is one of the fastest growing areas in the East.

In 1792, Lane again lobbied the legislature to buy 1,000 acres of his land to create the City of Raleigh.  The western boundary of the City was just east of his house.  The city was surveyed by William Christmas, the state surveyor, and laid out as one square mile, with North Street, South Street, East Street and West Street as the outer boundaries of the City.  You can get more background on this period from the National Park Service at  http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/raleigh/lan.htm . 

Inspired by Philadelphia, the Capital Building was located prominently north of the center of the City, with major streets going in every direction, with Fayetteville Street the "high" street heading south.  At the other end of Fayetteville Street was the Governors Mansion, so the Governor would walk up this prominent street to the Capital Building.   Three of the four streets still lead to the Capital, with the street heading north full of office buildings.

Copying Savannah Georgia and in the tradition of English cities four public squares were located within the City.  One of them was lost to the current governor's mansion, as a result of the Union Troops during the Civil War.  The Union troops occupied the City and were preparing to burn it when Union General Logan turned his cannons on his own troops to prevent the destruction of the City.   The troops were allowed to occupy the Governor's Mansion, which later Southern Governors regarded as the desecration of the property, particularly since it was occupied by General Sherman as his headquarters.   Subsequent Governors refused to live in the Mansion, so the State acquired Burke Square, one of the public squares and built the current Governor's Mansion.  A more practical reason was that the old Mansion had endured decades of neglect and was in poor condition.  For more on the Governor's Mansion, go to  http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/capitol/EXEC/Exectour.htm . Memorial Auditorium is currently located where the original Governor's Mansion stood.

For decades, Fayetteville Street was the ceremonial street for parades and other public celebrations in Raleigh. That is why it was historically significant when Fayetteville Street was re-opened as the main street of downtown Raleigh.  The community properly recognized this event as about 75,000 people participated in that celebration, which is about 20% of the population of the City of Raleigh.  Try to get 20% of the entire population of any other City to turn out for a celebration.

Raleigh is unusual in that it was originally designed and laid out just to be the Captial of North Carolina.  Now, it is growing dramatically with nearly 2.5 billion dollars being invested in new developments in the downtown area, with the history of the City and its original purpose shaping the development.