Capital Building in Raleigh, NC
In the afternoon I went to the Capital Building in Raleigh, NC. Depending on what you enter into google, you may be taken to various buildings near the capital. The North Carolina State Capital building is the historic building that once housed the government. This is not where the General Assembly meets. In 1963, they began meeting in the legislative building North of the State Capital building.
History of the Buildings
The capital was established in 1792 in Raleigh. The original State House was a brick building with two floors and a tower like structure on the top. It was enlarged between 1820 and 1824 by adding another floor and two wings on each side. In addition, a domed rotunda was added. This new structure was not long lived and in 1831, workers accidentally caught the building on fire destroying the entire building and historic library.
After the fire, a new Capital Building was commissioned in 1833. Architects were hired and fired as seems to be the case with other capital constructions projects. Eventually, in 1835 David Paton was hired as the lead Architect for the project. The building is another example of Greek Revival architecture, popular from 1830-1860 in America.
Roughly 130 local slaves were used to Quarry the stone and worked as laborers on the project. As exhibition displays the names of those who worked on the project, their job, wage collected and if they were enslaved. Not surprisingly, the member of the legislature that provided a slave earned the most.
The Capital Grounds
The grounds have various statues of North Carolinians.
Washington Monument
On the West side of the building is a Statue of Washington, which is a bronze replica of the marble statue in the State House in Virginia (See blog).
Inside Capital
As there is no legislative body normally in session here, the building is open for self guided daily tours. Access was simple with a scan and search of my bag. The officer wished me a good tour and someone behind the desk handed me a brochure without looking at me. It looked like his main task was to deliver a brochure to the next person that passed by. A box of brochures could have been provided and filled daily and no one would have noticed the difference.
At the center is the rotunda is a statue of honoring Washington in Greek dress. Honestly, nothing about the statue looked like Washington to me. This is a replica of the original statue in the first State House and was placed here in 1970.
There are three floors to the building. The current governor’s office is located on the first floor as are other administrative offices. On the second floor are the two legislative halls. On the third floor is the old state library, which has been moved to a building nearby housing the archives. As the government functions have grown, more and more of the offices have been moved to other buildings around the Capital Building.
Campground
I stayed at the Farm Country Campground. The people were very friendly and took me to my site located between two trailers. There was a strong breeze and the temperature was dropping.
I hadn’t eaten much all day and discovered the Deadwood across the street. This was more than a restaurant. There seemed to be an amusement park associated with it. They had live music and pictures of former acts were hung on the walls. The restaurant was huge and there was a long line waiting for a table. A couple told me to quickly get my name in or I might have to wait longer. I asked if I could sit at the bar and they said sure if you can find a spot. After finally finding the bar, it was empty.
I returned to the campsite and decided to do a load of laundry. The wifi reception was good and I did some things online for 90 minutes. I met a guy that was a welder with a local mining company. He didn’t know what the company mined. He told me he just welded tanks, sometimes underwater. He said he lived at the campsite. I asked if he got paid well and he said, yes sir and left.
About 15 minutes later, a woman came in. She was from West Virginia and was a traveling physical therapist. She had a few more weeks before the end of her contract and then she was going back to West Virginia for a few months and stay with family. She had a small trailer with a large dog and two cats.