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Two held without bond in deaths of Orange store owner, retired deputy
01/27/2012 11:32 AM
Curtis White and Ladell Faucette, Cedar Grove double homicideThe two men charged with robbing a Cedar Grove thrift store on Wednesday and shooting the store owner and a retired deputy will spend the next couple of weeks in Central Prison, held without bond on charges of first-degree murder.

NC panel: Pay sterilization victims $50K this year
01/27/2012 10:25 AM
Eugenics victim, sterilizationThe proposal to limit compensation for victims of the state's forced sterilization program to the those still living was made to encourage lawmakers to come up with the money to pay them, a state task force said in its final report Friday.

4-year-old boy shot in Durham
01/27/2012 09:56 AM
4-year-old boy shot in DurhamA 4-year-old boy was shot at a house on Brightfield Lane Friday morning and was being treated at Duke University Hospital.

Perdue's decision could benefit Obama
01/27/2012 09:22 AM
Perdue: NC cannot sustain more education cutsThe key battleground state of North Carolina is still within President Barack Obama's grasp, despite Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue's surprise decision to drop her re-election campaign.

Man charged in beheading plot to appear in court
01/27/2012 07:22 AM
Nevine Elsheikh, Shkumbin SherifiA Raleigh man accused of paying a hit man to behead three witnesses in a North Carolina terrorism case will make his first appearance Friday in federal court.

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DiggUp Tapes Free Show Tonight with Whatever Brains, Day Creeper and More
01/26/2012 04:00 PM
The Diggup Tapes crew return with another night of free rock ‘n roll at Kings Barcade tonight. With brains and creepers playing for lames and sleepers.


Glen Close is Albert Nobbs
01/26/2012 04:00 PM
Albert Nobbs began life as a short story, written by the great Irish author George Moore in 1918. Moore was a wonderful writer, ahead of his time in many ways, chief among them his descriptions of the lives of adulterers, prostitutes, and your everyday working class as naturalistic protagonists, instead of the Dickensian characters that most readers had grown accustomed to at the time.


Man on a Ledge
01/26/2012 04:00 PM
Ever so often moviegoers are blessed to be presented with a film that seemingly appears from out of the blue; a movie that rattles the film industry with its sheer originality and spawns copycats for years to come.


Governor Beverly Perdue, Representative Brad Miller Give Up
01/25/2012 04:00 PM
This morning two Democratic Politicians announced they wouldn’t be seeking reelection. For Raleigh and NC this could mark a permanent shift in political control of the state government.


Obama 2012 North Carolina Headquarters Moving Into Raleigh’s Warehouse District
01/24/2012 04:00 PM
Obama wants to win North Carolina in 2012 and is getting a head start in the capital city again. The campaign opened their Charlotte HQ this month but at the end of this week, they will start moving their main state HQ into the Warehouse District.


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Our goal is to provide you with information about the wide variety of free things to do in Raleigh, NC. With the many parks, museums, and other attractions, there's enough to keep most people busy and happy for quite a while. Browse our links, and check back soon, more content is coming online quickly.

History of Raleigh

Oak Tree Raleigh is also known as the "City of Oaks," mainly because of the numerous oak trees that adorn the entire city. Yet aside from these functions, the city is also North Carolina's capital and Wake County's seat. According to a count for July 2006, Raleigh's population is estimated to be around 353,604, thus making the capital one of America's rapidly expanding cities. In fact, Raleigh ranks fourth in the "List of Best Big Cities in 2006" by Money Magazine. Of course, anyone who is familiar with the city's history is not at all surprised by such a remarkable development. Since Raleigh is among the selected US cities intentionally developed to be a state capital, it can easily be said that the city is destined for expansion and progress.

Long before becoming a state capital, the city was called as the "Wake Crossroads," a name that gives a clear idea regarding the city's geographical function. At that time, Raleigh served as a place where travelers from either north or south could rest and maybe have a drink in one of its taverns. The place was eventually chosen to be North Carolina's capital in 1788. According to some accounts, "Wake Crossroads" was selected since it was within a 10-mile radius of Isaac Hunter's Tavern, a place popular among legislators at that time. But it was in 1792 when Raleigh was formally established as North Carolina's capital.

Sir Walter Raleigh That same year, the North Carolina General Assembly bought a lot from a local businessman and started making plans for Raleigh, which was by the way, modeled after Philadelphia, the US capital state at that time. The city got its name from Sir Walter Raleigh, who sponsored the Colony of Roanoke. The aforementioned assembly held its first meeting in the capital in December 1794. A month after that, the legislative body officially granted Raleigh a charter along with an "Intendant Police" (Mayor) and seven commissioners. John Haywood was Raleigh's first "Intendant Police."

Although Raleigh was lucky to be spared from destruction during the Civil War, the city remained little in size until streetcar lines were introduced in the 1920s. Since then, Raleigh began to grow, eventually transforming into one of the state's commercial hubs. A railroad was also constructed to link the city to neighboring communities. By the end of the Second World War, Raleigh had undergone many significant developments, particularly in its infrastructure. What used to be a rural community evolved into a bustling urban center. The development of the city's infrastructure is largely attributed to the founding of the North Carolina State University School of Design in 1948. But the construction and existence of the Research Triangle Park in the 1959 also brought big changes to the city. With a 7,000 acre land area, the RTP is the world's biggest research park, comprising Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. With its high-tech facilities, the RTP is also among the global leaders in scientific research and development.

As education is essential to any improvement of a city, Raleigh also has many universities and colleges. Aside from the North Carolina State University, other schools in the capital include Shaw University, St. Augustine's College, Meredith College, Wake Tech Community College, and Peace College. Both St. Augustine's and Shaw were founded towards the end of the 1860s, as schools for the freed slaves after the Civil War. Shaw was the premier university founded for that particular purpose in the country. In 1874, the Estey Hall was added to provide higher learning to women of African-American ethnicity.