Here’s a great project carried out by the NC State Archives and State Library.

From Crossroads to Capital

Witness Raleigh’s founding in 1792 and experience the first 50 years of North Carolina’s most powerful city in this exciting project from the State Library and State Archives of North Carolina.

Browse through digital copies of original documents, maps, books, and images, and check out the additional resources on this site to explore the evolution of Raleigh from its beginning near the Wake Cross Roads, throughout its founding, and into its early formative years.

If you are the kind of person that likes digging through old historic documents, this website contains some real treasures such as William Christmas’s plan for downtown sketched on paper. My favorite so far is this old newspaper with a view down Fayetteville St. (go to page 9) that even today we cannot match.

Thanks Kristen!