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Sunday, March 02, 2008

Weekend Snapshot: Number 26

My weekend snapshots this week were taken Saturday on a different type of walk from my regular nature trail walks. Bill and I decided to go downtown for a change of pace. I took a lot of photographs from all over the downtown area but will focus on the NC Capitol for my weekend snapshot post.
The NC State Capitol which was built between 1833 and 1840 is located in downtown Raleigh which is the Capital of NC (a state in the U.S.). The first State House was built on the same site in 1796 but was burned down during efforts to fireproof the wooden roof in 1831. Does anyone else see the irony in that?
Workmen were going to use melted zinc to cover the roof of the old State House to make it fireproof. The way the story goes is they melted the zinc in big pots, left to eat lunch, the pots tipped over and caught the building on fire and it burned to the ground. I bet those workmen never did that again. When the Capitol building was replaced they went from a fairly simple brick building to the Greek Revival style Capitol which is still standing.
All branches of state government were housed in the building until the State Supreme Court moved to its own building in 1888. The General Assembly met in the Capitol until 1963 when they moved to the new Legislature Building. Offices for the Governor and Secretary of State remain in the Capitol building.
The photograph below was taken after we walked down Fayetteville Street and I turned around to face back towards the Capitol Building . Between 1976 and 2006 Fayetteville Street was a pedestrian mall with water fountains, plants, trees, and places to sit. Then they decided that it was a bad idea and they ripped up the fountains and put a street back in, returning it to the way it was prior to 1976.
The big celebration for the return of a street newly open to cars, involved a party with food, music, and fireworks in the street. For the celebration the street was blocked off from cars. Anyone else see the irony in people dancing on the street to celebrate the return of cars?

To find other weekend snapshot participants you can go to the home of WS at Weekend snapshot or to the Technorati posts -

41 comments:

Butchay said...

love the pictures, i hope i can see those in real life.

SandyCarlson said...

How beautiful. North Carolina is a gorgeous state. Thanks for this tour. When I was a kid all we did was go through these states to get to Fla. to see my grandmother. I need to go back and see more!

Anonymous said...

A hard lesson learned by the workmen here. It caused them a building.

Anonymous said...

The street must have looked wonderful with the fountains. Your state looks lovely.

Have a great week :)

My WS:

Twilight

FreshBlueberries

eastcoastlife said...

The buildings are beautiful! And what a neat city! Yeah... I spot a couple of ironies there. hehe....

Anonymous said...

Very nice shots! It's like going there myself. Happy WS!

SabineM said...

I love the beautiful buildings. Here in California, everything is so new compared to where you are.
I miss beautiful buildings

maryt/theteach said...

Carver, great shots of your Capitol building! Good ironic story about trying to fireproof the building - Ha! :D

Juliana said...

I like the pictures also :D

Thanks for visiting mine.

Anonymous said...

I like the first pics...

Lilli & Nevada said...

Beautiful building i love old architect

Skippyheart said...

looks like such a wonderful place to visit...

Happy WS and thank you for your kind comments as always. =) TC

Liz said...

Great shots. You have a neat city. The workmen learned their lesson ;)

Anonymous said...

North Carolina is a beautiful state. It's so neat and the buildings are beautiful. Happy WS.

Lalaine said...

Your state looks so peaceful.

Your 2 ironic 'stories' made me smile..thanks for sharing.

Berto and Kwala said...

hmmm. political party, didn't think about that! hehehe.

nice pics!

larawannabe said...

there's a lot of irony in this post, i found 2. lol.

lovely photos. and i learned a little bit of history today, thanks.

have a great week ahead :)

Jeanne said...

all are beautiful pictures.... happy WS

Anonymous said...

lovely place u have there!

mine is up too!
http://www.pinoynetwork.org/vera

see yah there!

happy ws!

Natalie said...

Those are great pictures! That's a lovely capital building.

Anonymous said...

Wow, how insane is that? Burning a building down while trying to make it fireproof?

I wonder if pouring melted zinc on a building was an accepted method of fireproofing, or whether it was just someone's kooky idea.

Anonymous said...

Those are beautiful shots,Carver! I love the tress too..Looks like you had a great weekend:) And thanks for the informations! Happy WS!

Unknown said...

How wonderful those places are! I wish one day I could visit there!

Napaboaniya.Elaine Ling said...

I couldn't help giggle when I read the part of rebuilding in hope of fireproofing the building...

Carver, thanks for your well wishes :)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Architecture. Love the buildings. Happy WS!

Haydee said...

Never been there! Would love one day to see the city.

Jen said...

Loved the irony of the story. Wonderful pictures!

maiylah said...

what a wonderful place! yeah, some ironies there ... :P

Anonymous said...

wonderful shots! I love the stories and the ironies you added ... :)

Sharon said...

Wonderful pictures made better by the history. I love to read the stories and history of places. Had to laugh at the fireproofing story. :)

Heart of Rachel said...

Thanks for sharing the history behind this great structure.

The story of the old State House burning is very interesting. It must have led to the implementation of stricter rules in the working area.

Thanks for visiting.

Carver said...

Thanks to everyone for visiting and commenting on my weekend snapshot.

::: said...

What a lovely day you had for that walk!! Great shots as always and nice history lesson. I love pedestrian malls, too bad that one was given back to traffic jams...
Happy Monday, Carver!!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pictures! I love visiting historic buildings and such.

Carver said...

Thanks for visiting my WS. I hope everyone's week is off to a good start.

AscenderRisesAbove said...

fascinating how they were going to make it fireproof.
you do this so much better then me; glad that your medical appts are all fine. today is my bday; and my first appt in neurology. nervous.
enjoyed the party pictures below too

Carver said...

Happy Birthday J (Ascender), I'm sorry you have to deal with the neurology appointment on your birthday. I hope that it goes well and that you can do something fun, just for you today. As ever, Carver

JesieBlogJourney said...

Historical, different and remembered. It's a pretty city with a good historical reflection.

Berto and Kwala said...

wow, different and informative! thanks for the tour!

Carver said...

Thanks again to everyone for visiting my weekend snapshots.

Tammy said...

Great picture, definitely different!