by Liliana Trigilio | Nov 4, 2021 | November 2021, Web Exclusive
WEB EXCLUSIVE The Built Story app guides you through 20 of Raleigh’s most spooky spots.
Calling all thrill-seekers and lovers of the supernatural! Spooky season ain’t over yet. Experience Raleigh’s most terrifying ghosts, spirits and haunts through self-guided tour marketplace Built Story’s tour of the most spooky spots.
The Built Story app takes you ghost-hunting through 20 local haunted locations (mostly near NC State and DTR), including the likes of Dorothea Dix Hospital, Oakwood Cemetery, the Mordecai House and more—each with its own dose of paranormal activity and bone-chilling story of lore. They say the spirits of the deceased are said to walk among us in Raleigh—and during this tour, you may just come in contact. Boo!
Added bonus: Once the tour is purchased, you can start, pause, stop and retake it as many times as you wish for 30 days (so if you get too spooked, you can always work up the nerve for a redo). Happy haunting! $10 per person, app available on iOS & Android
by Anna Brescia | Jun 30, 2021 | June 2021, Web Exclusive
WEB EXCLUSIVE Explore Raleigh’s African American heritage with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s Black History Walking Tours.
Lace up your sneakers and head Downtown—we’re going walking through history. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s digital self-guided Black History Walking Tours are the perfect way to explore and learn about the untold history of Raleigh, with stops highlighting Black leaders, entrepreneurs, institutions and places that played pivotal roles in the community.
DRA currently has two tours available—the Raleigh’s Black Main Street and the Historic African American Churches tours. Stops include familiar locales Downtown like the Hamlin Drug Store, East Hargett Street and the Raleigh Furniture Building, with each stop providing a brief writeup on the history of the building, when it was built and its current condition. In between stops, you can read up on some of the people who were influential in Raleigh’s Black community, like Calvin Lightner, an American architect, building contractor and mortician; and Mollie Huston Lee, the first African American librarian in Raleigh.
Next month, DRA is launching two new walking tours exploring the Prince Hall Historic District and East Raleigh – South Park Historic District. The Prince Hall Historic District, formerly South Person/South Blount, is home to several Raleigh landmarks—and US National Register of Historic Places—like the Prince Hall Masonic Temple and the Rogers-Bagley-Daniels-Pegues House.
This area has been home to the African American community (largely given its proximity to Shaw University and to East Hargett Street) since the Reconstruction era. Additionally, the Prince Hall Historic District is dubbed Raleigh’s first African American and mixed-use district.
The East Raleigh – South Park area’s history runs just as deep. African Americans moved to the area en masse just after the Civil War and continuing through the turn of the 20th century, making it Raleigh’s largest historic African American neighborhood.
So the next time you’re gearing up for an afternoon stroll Downtown, why not tune in to a little bit of Raleigh’s history along the way. You might just learn a thing or two. Click here for tour information and map.
