Above is a marker on the Hargett Street side of the Edmisten Building denoting the spot where Judge William Gaston penned the official North Carolina state song “The Old North State Forever”. Visible in the reflection is the Odd Fellows Building.

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A forgotten N.C. State University landmark, a 7-foot tall granite drinking fountain, stands hidden behind Primrose Hall on campus. The monument was a gift of the class of 1914 and originally stood in the quad between Holladay and Leazar Halls. Leazar was the dining hall back then, so it made sense to place the 4-sided fountain in a space that was essentially a student hangout. Photos in old year books show the fountain in the center of a well-worn network of paths running through the barren dirt yard. I’m not sure how or when it was moved to its current location, but it has been there for as long as I can remember. Read more »

Beneath the busy streets of Hillsborough, Morgan, and Boylan lie dark, dirty corners of Raleigh. Large pillars of concrete rise out of packed mud ground to lift these thoroughfares and allow for rail traffic to pass beneath. The spaces created by these elevated roads are a home for the homeless, a canvas for graffiti writers, and a departure point for freight riders. Covered in graffiti of varying qualities and strewn with artifacts of all types, the underpasses hold a thousand different stories. A hobo moniker left by some traveler years ago, an empty purse with a torn strap, remnants of campfires, old trashy romance novels; each of these gives one an idea of somebody who was there before them, clues to stories never told.  Once I stumbled onto a message spelled out in rocks set on the dirt telling a friend goodbye and to be careful “on the road.”

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