I got the opportunity to attend a Juneteenth event at the governor's mansion & governor Josh Stein…read morespoke & presented a proclamation to honor the day. There were also dancers, a singer, food, and vendors at the event. All of the employees that we engaged with were pleasant. We also had the opportunity to tour the first floor of the mansion while at the event. It was a great event to start my day.

Christmas time at our (North Carolinians) house. Wonderfully decorated and impressive home…read more Security, volunteers, and staff were all super friendly. The whole event was well organized with choirs, too! Kudos!

If you are curious about one of Raleigh's badasses, make sure to stop at the Fannie Heck historical…read moremarker, located outside of the Heck-Andrews House in Downtown Raleigh on Blount Street. She was a force of nature in North Carolina's history. Fannie Exile Scudder Heck was born during the Civil War in Virginia while her family was literally in "exile", fleeing from West Virginia. She carried that middle name as a badge of her family's resilience through the war. She changed the role of women's organizations in the south. She served as president of the Women's Missionary Union for 15 years. In 1900, she was a delegate to the first Ecumenical Conference in New York. She was a speaker at the Baptist World Alliance in 1911, representing Southern women on a global stage. She changed the way missionary work was thought of and changed the focus from religious teachings to social services. She wanted to help the sick, orphans and underprivileged members of the community. Under her leadership in North Carolina, the number of missionary societies grew from 14 to 1,200. Missionary work was a way for women to enter the male-dominated world of politics and get outside of the home and church. She used the WMU to create a "shadow" power structure. Her "missions" were a way to engage in social activism without the patriarchal gatekeepers. Besides helping the poor and sick, she built large, female-led bureaucratic machines that managed their own finances, published literature and directed global policy. She played a large role in Meredith College. Besides donating money, she spearheaded a fundraiser to finish the original buildings so that the college could open back in 1899. The "Good Women's Movement, raised $6,000. She founded the Associated Charities and the Raleigh Women's Club and served as president to both organizations. She changed social services from being a charity to advocacy work. She was a supporter of the YWCA. Besides her advocacy for women, she was also a writer of many books. She wrote hymns as well. One is said to still be used at Baptist services today. "The Woman's Hymn" ("Come, Women, Wide Proclaim"). Her historical marker stands outside the house she once lived in. Her home is where she conducted activities and coordinated these national movements from her parlor. The Heck-Andrews House was one of the first major homes built in Raleigh after the Civil War (it was completed in 1870). It is a stunning example of Second Empire style, featuring a dramatic central tower and a patterned slate mansard roof. She wasn't just a "lady of the house"; she was the CEO of a global organization of over 100,000 women

Limited text on this marker near downtown Raleigh but the name of the person celebrated gave me a…read moregiggle. "Social activist; writer. Led the Baptist Woman's Missionary Union after 1892. A benefactor of present Meredith College. Lived in this house." Online, we learn "Fannie Heck devoted her life to religious work. Born in Virginia to Mattie and Jonathan Heck, a Confederate lieutenant colonel, she was given the inauspicious middle name of Exile. She later adopted the name Scudder. After the war her family settled in Raleigh and built the manor now known as the Heck-Andrews House. She joined the First Baptist Church, engaging in her first mission work, and attended Hollins Institute." Stop by and pay tribute to this great woman. [Review 11677 overall, 1459 of 2019.]

Ayr Mount is in Hillsborough, NC. The property is on the National Register of Historic Places. The…read moreproperty grounds are open daily and house tours are available on certain days and times, just follow the signs to the parking area and either to the Poet's Walk (one mile trail) or the House. Ayr Mount was built in 1815 and made of brick (you can see fingerprints in some of the bricks from the workers). He named it for his birthplace in Ayr, Scotland. William Kirkland was a merchant and built his house along the Native American Trading Path. Kirkland had fourteen children and the property stayed in the family for four generations. If I remember correctly he had 57 grandchildren. Richard Jenrette bought the house in 1985 then donated it to the Classical American Home Preservation Trust and we can view the property. The house features tall ceilings; and intricate details; a lot of the furniture are family pieces. I highly recommend touring this house if in the Hillsborough Area.

Very pleasant 1 mile walk in nature with benches near the river and a pond. The historic house was…read moreclosed but the grounds were beautiful and well maintained. I didn't notice a public restroom. Parking lot available and free.

Traveling through Hillsborough, it was nice to spot a marker that denoted something other than…read moreColonial or Civil War history. This one is much more modern. The marker reads, "Bill Strayhorn. 1915-1967. Jazz composer & pianist. Wrote "Take the A Train" and other songs for Duke Ellington Orchestra. Boyhood home site 1/4 mi. W." Online is more information. "William Thomas ("Billy" professionally) Strayhorn, Duke Ellington's longtime collaborator, was among the most influential figures in American jazz. A versatile composer, arranger, and pianist, Strayhorn joined Ellington's orchestra at age 22 in 1939 and worked with the bandleader the rest of his life. Ellington publicly acknowledged the central role Strayhorn played in his success, writing the band's theme "Take the A Train" and penning popular and widely recorded songs such as "Lush Life" and "Satin Doll." Strayhorn was a formative influence on an entire generation of musicians. Living in New York City most of his adult life, he was actively involved in the civil rights movement and was a personal friend of Martin Luther King Jr.. "Although Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio, his roots ran deep in Orange County and, importantly, his frequent stays in Hillsborough as a boy were essential to his musical development. His father and grandfather both worked at the Eno Mill. His grandparents, who owned a piano, lived in a house (now gone) at the corner of Margaret Lane and Hillsborough Avenue. Returning with his mother and siblings to North Carolina from Ohio regularly from age five, Strayhorn attended his first year of school while in Hillsborough; a classmate remembered him as "small and bright." He spent breaks and summers in North Carolina through his early teenage years (by then the family had moved to Pittsburgh) and often took the train to visit an uncle in Durham. "Biographer David Hajdu contends that North Carolina became the young man's spiritual home, the place he was introduced to music. Initially gospel tunes drew him to the piano. He often wandered through the slave cemetery across from his boyhood home and walked along the Eno River. At Strayhorn's death at age 52 in 1967, Ellington said his friend "had no aspirations to enter into any kind of competition, yet the legacy he leaves, his oeuvre, will never be less than the ultimate on the highest plateau of culture." In 2007 Strayhorn was the subject of a PBS documentary." This is marker number G-125. It was erected in 2008 by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. [Review 102 of 2025 - 4072 in North Carolina - 23669 overall]

Decorated for Christmas and included live music in the rotunda!…read more Impressive building and well worth a visit. Amazing architecture. Symbols of our state and our country including the portrait of George Washington are impressive.

Was in Raleigh for work and went walking around and saw the State House. Had no clue Raleigh was…read morethe capital more knew anything about it really. As I walked by snagging some pictures I saw an inviting sign so decided to walk in. Free to the public and did the self-guided tour. It was such a nice detour and so glad I did. The old Library inside, rotunda, and old Senate chambers were especially cool to see. I tried imagine of what it was like in those halls in the mid-1800's. I would recommend stopping in and check it out.

Great venue for your own personal event. It has a stage. It has plenty of space to spread out and…read moreprepare anything you have to do on site. Outside is clean and useable to put up tents and games! Fresh country air!!!

This is not an official state of North Carolina marker but it still points out some important…read morehistory of the area. The marker reads, "In the late 1860s freed slaves founded Oberlin, the largest Reconstruction-era black settlement in Wake County. By 1880 some 160 families lived in Oberlin Village, named in tribute to the Ohio college that supported education for Negroes. They established Wilson Temple United Methodist Church in the late 1860s, Oberlin School about 1873, Oberlin Baptist Church about 1880, and Latta University about 1892. They buried their loved ones at Oberlin Cemetery (est. 1873), which exists 400 feet to the east/north east." In 1858, Jesse Pettiford, a free Black tenant farmer, purchased 16 acres of land along New Hillsborough Road west of Raleigh. After the Civil War, Lewis Peck, a wealthy white grocer, divided his farm into lots and sold them to African Americans at about $50 per acre. This area became known as Peck's Place and later Oberlin Village. Oberlin Village is a testament to the resilience and determination of its residents, who built a thriving community from the ground up. It stands as one of the longest-surviving and most intact Reconstruction-Era freedmen's colonies in North Carolina. [Review 2461 of 2024 - 3916 in North Carolina - 23473 overall]

A historical marker about a historian seems a little meta but here we go with your history lesson…read more This marker is located on the main street that joins downtown Hillsborough towards the interstate exit and is near the Orange County Historical Society. The marker reads, "J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, 1878-1961. Historian, professor, and founder of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC. Born 1/2 block west." Online, there is a lot more information. "Born in Hillsborough, N.C. on August 6, 1878, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac Hamilton came from a family with deep South roots. His great-grandfather was Nullification governor of South Carolina. His father came to North Carolina to teach at Hillsborough Military Academy and remained to fight in the 13th N.C. Regiment. Hamilton studied first at home and then did college work at the Sewanee: University of the South graduating with the M.A. degree in 1900. He taught at the Horner Military School at Oxford before continuing his education at Columbia University (1902-4) with historian William Archibald Dunning, and was awarded the Ph.D. degree in American history in 1906. Hamilton, as did many Dunning students, wrote his dissertation about reconstruction in his home state (NC) which was then published as a history book, Reconstruction in North Carolina in 1914. "Hamilton returned to teaching, first at the Wilmington (NC) High School (1904-1906) and then, in 1906, he was appointed an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina. He served UNC until his retirement in 1951. He was among the important historians of his era, however, like many in his time, his writings were slanted to the Lost Cause mythos of Civil War and Reconstruction history, favoring a narrative crafted to support white racial ideology over actual events. His monograph on North Carolina Reconstruction was not refuted for half a century. "While Hamilton's work as an historian supported white supremacist narratives, it was his work as a nascent archivist for special collections at the University of North Carolina that built a collection to memorialize that narrative. In 1927 he announced plans for what he initially called the "National Southern Collection." In 1930, Sarah Graham Kenan gave a gift to establish the Southern Historical Collection. Hamilton was named as the first director. His manuscript-collecting travels across the South, placing almost a million miles on a series of Ford coupes, are legendary. Some states attempted to block his efforts and he came to be known as "Ransack" Hamilton for his gathering practices. While he gathered and built an amazing collection of southern history materials, it was singular in focus on the history of white southerners. Recent writings in 2020 argue his tenure was dedicated to shaping the university (and collections) to the benefit of white supremacy. "Nonetheless, some credit the renaissance in southern history in the mid-twentieth century to Hamilton's foresight (in the collecting of what materials he did gather). In partial recognition of that fact, and his contributions to the field of history, the 1972 new building occupied by the UNC History Department was named for him. After a reevaluation of his career and contributions, the History Department building was recommended in 2020 for a name change. "Hamilton passed away on 10 November 1961. He is buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery on the campus of the university." There is parking at the police department. This is marker number G-103. It was erected in 1989 by the Division of Archives and History. [Review 106 of 2025 - 4075 in North Carolina - 23673 overall]