Planned Local Event #1 -- Raleigh Trolley Tours

Now that the details of our exciting "local events" have been finalized -- it's time for us to share them with you! Let's start with the tours aboard Raleigh's historic Trolley!

Raleigh Historic Day Tour

Tuesday, May 12th
9:30a-3:30p
Cost: $45 per person (lunch on own)

You’ll leave the convention center aboard a historic trolley and have a guided tour of several downtown Raleigh sites.

• Joel Lane House with its authentic 18th century garden, is the oldest dwelling in Raleigh.


• Mordecai Historic Park includes the Mordecai House, President Andrew Johnson’s birthplace, St. Mark’s Chapel, and other historic buildings and gardens.


• Lunch on your own in Raleigh’s Historic City Market


• Historic Oakwood Cemetery, the final resting place of 2,800 Confederate Soldiers, five Civil War generals, seven governors and many others. A cemetery historian will share colorful stories about their lives.

Raleigh Evening Orientation Tours
Tuesday, May 12th
4:00p-5:15p, 5:20p-6:35p or 6:40p-7:55p
Cost: $15 per person per tour

Ride the historic trolley and learn your way around downtown Raleigh. Discover how conveniently close you are to the State Archives, restaurants, shops, museums and art galleries. A tour guide will point out landmarks and tell colorful stories about historic downtown. Each tour lasts approx. 1 hour 15 min. Includes choice of sitting or standing. Drop off and pick up at conference center only.

What's With the Acorn?

"Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" and often is described as "a park with a city in it." Trees planted at the city's inception still provide cooling shade for visitors to Moore Square Park..."

To honor this moniker, for the City of Raleigh's bicentennial celebration in 1992, John Watkins conceived the idea of a giant acorn and persuaded local businesses to cover the cost for it's design and creation by sculptor David Benson.

Some acorn stats ...
+ 1,250 pounds
+ 10 feet tall
+ copper and steel
+ rests in Moore square except on New Years eve

For 16 First Night celebrations (since the Bicentennial of Raleigh in 1992), the acorn has been lowered from a crane at the stroke of midnight to signal the dawning of the New Year

Check out some other Raleigh, Fun Facts!

Why come to Raleigh?

Why should you come to Raleigh in May 2009?

The weather is great. The average daytime highs are in the mid- to upper-70s.

The dogwood trees and rhododendron plants are in bloom, painting the city with color.

You can network with hundreds of genealogists who are also coming to the conference.

The conference is held in the middle of North Carolina history. Enjoy being close to many archival repositories just waiting for you to explore their collections. (Read about the many research opportunities on this blog.)

North Carolina barbeque - need we say more?!

Indulge yourself with four days of genealogy lectures by nationally-known speakers.

Enjoy world-class museums, many within walking distance of the convention center.

Stroll through an exhibit hall filled with vendors offering a wide variety of genealogy products and services.

Heartbeat of Raleigh -- Its Renaissance -- Fayetteville Street

Fayetteville Street in Raleigh (just a block over from the Convention Center where the conference will be held) is the central thoroughfare of Raleigh and reflects the history of this capital city!

In an attempt to re-energize this thoroughfare in the 1970s, the street was closed to traffic and converted to a pedestrian mall in an attempt to revitalize the downtown area.

The lack of success of this project resulted in a return to vehicular traffic in 2006, and was celebrated as part of Raleigh Wide-Open, a now annual event!

Read about the history of this street leading up to its renaissance!

When you are here for NGS 2009, you'll get to see for yourself how successful the project has been as you enjoy the sights, sounds, restaurants and businesses that now line this exciting street that connects the Capitol Building at the northern end to the Progress Performing Arts Center at the southern end.

The Raleigh Convention Center

The much-anticipated Raleigh Convention Center opened in the fall of 2008. The 500,000 square foot building will be an impressive backdrop for the NGS Conference in the States in May 2009. The convention center boasts high-tech capabilities such as state-of-the-art lighting and sound in each room and wireless internet access throughout the building.

The lobby welcomes visitors with floor-to-ceiling windows. The street level mezzanine offers easy access to all areas of the center and to the attached Raleigh Marriott City Center hotel. The spacious reception area will be an ideal location to meet friends and network with fellow genealogists.

For those who are driving to the conference, there is a 900-space attached parking garage plus more than 4,000 parking spaces within a 2-block radius of the center.

Exciting Art Exhibitions -- May 2009 -- Artspace!

Exciting exhibitions planned for May 2009 at Artspace!

Gallery One will host an exhibition by Michigan artist Sarah Lindley, opening May 1, 2009. Lindley’s exhibition will present recent porcelain work reminiscent of roll top desks, trunks, chests of drawers, and cabinets. While normally these items are designed to protect, organize, and display their contents, Lindley reduces the forms to systems and structure – essentially skeletal forms – incapable of function. The function is defied further by the fragile nature of the material (porcelain) from which they have been created.

Gallery Two will present the work of our Artspace Summer Arts Program instructors. This exhibition, opening May 16, 2009, will feature works for sale by the many talented professional artists who join us each summer to teach visual arts to children and adults. Proceeds from art sales benefit the Artspace Summer Arts Program scholarship fund.

Additional exhibitions will be located in the Upfront Gallery, lobby, and hallways throughout the building.

Always check the Artspace web-site for information about all current exhibitions and special events.

Come be inspired at Artspace!

Artspace is a one-of-a-kind nonprofit visual art center dedicated to providing inspiring and engaging arts education and community outreach programs, creating a dynamic open studio environment of professional artists, and presenting nationally acclaimed exhibitions. Since 1986, Artspace has been Raleigh’s visual art center providing the community with the opportunity to interact with working artists and participate in hands-on arts education.

The building is open to the public Tuesday - Saturday from 10am-6pm and 10am-10pm on the first Friday of each month. Admission is free and donations are appreciated.

A Historic Space
Located just blocks away from the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh’s City Market, the Artspace facility was built in 1911 to serve as the city’s livery for the downtown City Market area. In the 1960’s, the building was transformed into the Sanders Ford Car Dealership. Today this 30,000 square foot facility is home to 35 artists working in a variety of media, along with three exhibition spaces, education space, and a gift shop. Artspace is one of the largest open studio environments in the country and the premier organization of its kind in North Carolina.

What is an “open studio environment?”
Unlike other gallery or studio settings, Artspace artists invite the public to watch them work in their studios, discuss the creative process, learn about new techniques and tips, and purchase a work of art direct from the artist. The Artspace Artists Association boasts 100 professional members, with 35 of these artists working in open studios at Artspace. Artists within the building represent a wide variety of mediums, including watercolor, landscapes, portraiture, mixed media, clay, printmaking, sculpture, jewelry-making, and felt making.

Artspace is conveniently located 2 blocks from the Raleigh Convention Center at 201 E Davie St.

Come by today and immerse yourself in the creative process!

Immerse Yourself in History at the North Carolina Museum of History

Just a few blocks from NGS 2009, you can be immersed in North Carolina's history at the North Carolina Museum of History.

The museum is located at 5 E. Edenton Street in downtown Raleigh. Admission is FREE, and parking is free on weekends. The museum’s hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The Museum Shop, featuring North Carolina crafts, is open daily. The museum is part of the Office of Archives and History, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

Some exhibits that may interest you, include:

A Call to Arms: North Carolina Military History Gallery
See artifacts from 11 wars, from the American Revolution to the war in Iraq. The gallery is filled with weapons, uniforms, home front items, photographs and other objects from wars that have touched thousands of Tar Heel lives. Online Exhibit Preview / Podcast

Carbine Williams
See the original workshop of David Marshall “Carbine” Williams. This self-taught gunsmith from North Carolina helped design the U.S. Carbine, caliber .30, M1, which became a favorite weapon of American forces in World War II, the Korean War and the early years of Vietnam. The one-room workshop includes nearly 3,000 artifacts.

Pleasing to the Eye: The Decorative Arts of North Carolina
This large exhibit overflows with hundreds of items that reveal the craftsmanship and artistic expression of generations of North Carolinians. See paintings, pottery, furniture, needlework, silver, quilts, metalwork, costumes and much, much more.

N.C. Sports Hall of Fame
See more than 200 items representing Tar Heel sports heroes. Items in the exhibit include champion driver Richard Petty’s stock car, Meadowlark Lemon’s Harlem Globetrotters basketball uniform, N.C. State University coach Kay Yow’s Olympic team basketball, Jim Beatty’s running shoes, Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice’s UNC-Chapel Hill football jersey and Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke University warm-up jacket. N.C. Sports Hall of Fame Members, N.C. Sports Hall of Fame Web site

1920s Drugstore
Patent medicines, loose herbs, and turpentine and tar products used in home remedies are just a sampling of artifacts lining the shelves of the 1920s drugstore. A mortar and pestle rest on the workroom counter, where the pharmacist mixed drugs and filled prescriptions. Fixtures from the J.C. Brantley Drugstore in Raleigh, such as mahogany cabinets, massive marble counters and large mirrors, date to the 1890s, when the drugstore (originally the O.G. King Drugstore) first opened its doors.

The North Carolina Museum of History is alive with the past—your past.