BGuthrie Photos: NC -- Raleigh -- State Capitol -- Interior shots

NC -- Raleigh -- State Capitol -- Interior shots:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 18.118.184.237 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] SCAINC_071204_004.JPG	[2] SCAINC_071204_007.JPG	[3] SCAINC_071204_014.JPG
[4] SCAINC_071204_022.JPG	[5] SCAINC_071204_027.JPG	[6] SCAINC_071204_032.JPG
[7] SCAINC_071204_040.JPG	[8] SCAINC_071204_045.JPG	[9] SCAINC_071204_054.JPG
[10] SCAINC_071204_058.JPG	[11] SCAINC_071204_066.JPG	[12] SCAINC_071204_071.JPG
[13] SCAINC_071204_073.JPG	[14] SCAINC_071204_076.JPG	[15] SCAINC_071204_081.JPG
[16] SCAINC_071204_085.JPG	[17] SCAINC_071204_092.JPG	[18] SCAINC_071204_096.JPG
[19] SCAINC_071204_098.JPG	[20] SCAINC_071204_102.JPG	[21] SCAINC_071204_107.JPG
[22] SCAINC_071204_110.JPG	[23] SCAINC_071204_113.JPG	[24] SCAINC_071204_117.JPG
[25] SCAINC_071204_120.JPG	[26] SCAINC_071204_126.JPG	[27] SCAINC_071204_128.JPG
[28] SCAINC_071204_136.JPG	[29] SCAINC_071204_138.JPG	[30] SCAINC_071204_145.JPG
[31] SCAINC_071204_147.JPG	[32] SCAINC_071204_153.JPG	[33] SCAINC_071204_157.JPG
[34] SCAINC_071204_160.JPG	[35] SCAINC_071204_166.JPG	[36] SCAINC_071204_169.JPG
[37] SCAINC_071204_175.JPG	[38] SCAINC_071204_190.JPG	[39] SCAINC_071204_192.JPG
[40] SCAINC_071204_196.JPG	[41] SCAINC_071204_199.JPG	[42] SCAINC_071204_207.JPG
[43] SCAINC_071204_211.JPG	[44] SCAINC_071204_212.JPG	[45] SCAINC_071204_217.JPG
[46] SCAINC_071204_225.JPG	[47] SCAINC_071204_231.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SCAINC_071204_066.JPG: These stairs were used by slaves bringing up supplies and such. That caused them to chip and wear so much.
2. SCAINC_071204_071.JPG: The West Stairs: How were they damaged? As you ascend the staircase, notice the numerous worn, chipped, and uneven steps. This visible damage likely was caused by the iron-rimmed wheels of wheelbarrows used by enslaved African Americans as they carted heavy loads of firewood upstairs to fuel the fireplaces. Records indicate that more than 300 cords of wood were used during regular legislative session, which ran from November to March. The west door of the Capitol (to your left) functioned as the service entrance. The woodshed stood near the northwest corner of the grounds. Local slaveholders hired out slaves to do general housekeeping and maintenance at the Capitol from 1840 until the end of the Civil War. After emancipation, free blacks were hired and paid to do the work. A claim that whiskey barrels damaged these stairs is a long-standing legend, though historical research has since discredited this myth. The story is rooted in accounts of an infamous carpetbagger, former Union Army General Milton S. Littlefield, who was said to have kept a "profusion of bottles and seegars" in the West Committee Room on the second floor. During the era of Civil War Reconstruction (1865-1877), the room was known as the "third house" of the legislature, because of the many political deals that are said to have been made there during this notoriously corrupt period.
3. SCAINC_071204_085.JPG: House Chamber
4. SCAINC_071204_092.JPG: The House Chamber: 1840-1961: The House Chamber is designed in the shape of a Greek amphitheater and features a semi-circular screen of Corinthian columns. The room has been restored to its 1840-1865 appearance with the original colors and decorative painting schemes. The 120-member House of Representatives, known as the House of Commons, debated and enacted laws in this chamber until 1961. It moved to the State Legislative Building in 1963 due to a lack of space and modern conveniences in the Capitol. Today this room is used for educational programs and special ceremonies. As in the Senate Chamber, most of the furnishings in this room are original. The Speaker of the House presided at the upper desk, while clerks sat at the lower desk. Newspaper reporters worked at the curved front table. It is believed that the Ordinance of Secession likely was signed at the reporter's table on May 20, 1861, as North Carolina entered the Civil War as a Confederate state. Thomas Scully's portrait of George Washington was purchased by the state for $500 in 1816 to hang in the House Chamber of the State House, which stood on this site until a fire started on the roof and destroyed the building in June 1831. This portrait is one of the three items saved during the fire and has hung in this room since 1840. In 1920, 26-year-old Lillian Exum Clement of Buncombe County became the first woman elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives. She won by a landslide (10,368 votes to 41) and, ironically, entered the office shortly before the ratification of the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. Clement was not only the first female elected to the NC General Assembly, but she was also the first woman to serve in any state legislature in the South.
5. SCAINC_071204_126.JPG: The Senate Chamber, 1840-1961: The Senate Chamber is designed in the shape of a Greek temple and features ornate plaster mouldings and Ionic columns. The room has been restored to its 1840-1865 appearance with its original colors and decorative painting schemes. The 50-member Senate debated and enacted laws in this chamber for 123 years, until it moved to the State Legislative Building in 1963 due to a lack of space and modern conveniences in the Capitol. Today this room is used for educational purposes and special ceremonies. Most of the furnishings are original. William Thompson, a local cabinet maker, built the 50 mahogany desks between 1838 and 1840. Many of the chairs are reproductions, however, the originals are currently in storage at the State Archives because they are too fragile to use. The Speaker, who has been called the "President of the Senate" since 1868, presided at the upper desk. Meanwhile, clerks sat at the lower desk and newspaper reporters sat at the curved front table. Benches in the galleries above provided seating for the public. The 1841 gold frame on the northeast wall (right side) contains an 1840 print of the Marquis de Lafayette viewing "Conova's Statue of General George Washington" in 1825 when he toured the state. Lafayette visited the State House to view the new statue of Washington in the rotunda. This lithograph depicts the only known interior view of the State House, which stood on this site from 1794 until it was destroyed by the fire in 1831. From 1840-1866, when they were sold for scrap, 84-candle chandeliers provided evening lighting in the House and Senate chambers. In 1866, gas chandeliers were installed in both chambers. These fixtures were partially electrified in 1888 and fully electrified in 1926. The sand-filled wooden boxes that you see before you on the floor of the chambers are known as spit boxes. As the name implies, these boxes functioned as a place to spit while chewing tobacco, an extremely popular practice throughout the 19th century in the tobacco-producing state.
6. SCAINC_071204_128.JPG: Senate Chamber
7. SCAINC_071204_157.JPG: State Geologist's Office
8. SCAINC_071204_160.JPG: State Geologist's Office: 1854-1865: In November 1840, this room was assigned to the State Supreme Court. In early 1843, the Court and its law library relocated to the northwest suite on the first floor. No reason for the move is stated, but the long climb to the third floor may have been too strenuous for the three judges. This room was then used by legislative clerks. In 1850, Governor David S. Reid authorized a "Geological, Mineralogical, Botanical, and Agricultural Survey of the State." Two years later, Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, a former geologist for the New York state survey, was appointed as the State Geologist. Dr. Emmons conducted his survey from 1852-1860 to determine both the scope of North Carolina's natural resources and their commercial potential. Pour transportation prevented Dr. Emmons from fully documenting the entire state. In 1854, he was instructed by the legislature to prepare an exhibit for the examination to justify continued funding of the survey. Glazed display cases were moved (?) here in 1856 to house the collection from only (?) the Midland (Piedmont) counties. Shortly before the peaceful surrender of Raleigh to Union troops on April 13, 1865, Governor Zebulon Vance requested that ":the Capitol with its library and museum" be spared. That did not prevent valuable mineral specimens from being plundered by soldiers in General Sherman's army. In 1866, the remnants from the "Cabinet of Minerals" were transferred to the University of North Carolina and by 1868 the cabinets were removed from the room. After the Civil War, this room became a State Library reading room and later, the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
9. SCAINC_071204_207.JPG: State Library
10. SCAINC_071204_217.JPG: State Library: 1840-1888: This room was designed in the fashionable Gothic style by the Capitol's final architect David Paton. The room was horizontally divided by the installation of a gallery in 1841-1842 by the carpentry firm of P. Conrad and Brothers. Half of the gallery's original columns were removed to accommodate additional alcove bookcases in the room. The library was originally under the supervision of Secretary of State William Hill, from 1812-1843. James Fauntleroy Taylor, Jr. became the first State Librarian in 1843 and served until 1854. At first, the State Library, containing over 2,200 volumes in 1840, served only the Governor, Council of State, legislators, and the three state Supreme Court judges. It opened to the public in 1845. The room was heated by a fireplace fronted by a Gothic style mantle until 1857 when a coal stove with a mat and fixtures was purchased for $18.75 (?). The librarian's desk, believed to be original to the room, was located near the north window so as to be closest to the heat source. The library continue to expand until 1888, when the collection, now containing over 40,000 volumes, was relocated. The library and the Supreme Court both moved into the current Labor Building, northwest of the Capitol. Following meticulous research on historic paint finishes, the pine gallery, cast iron balustrade, and all interior woodwork in this room have been restored with faux oak graining to replicate the room's 1850's appearance. The room's late 1850s furnishings have been reassembled and are based on documents and itemized accounts found in legislative papers preserved at the State Archives.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: North Carolina State Capitol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The North Carolina State Capitol is the capitol building of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Housing the offices of the Governor and (formerly) the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, it is located in the state capital of Raleigh on One East Edenton Street. The Greek Revival building was designed by the firm of Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis and completed in 1840.

Until 1888, the building held the entire state government. The North Carolina General Assembly met in the capitol building until 1963, when the legislature relocated to the new North Carolina State Legislative Building. The North Carolina Supreme Court also has used the building in the past.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].