North Carolina

Greetings, dear readers, and welcome back to the quest for 50 Crapitols. This installment chronicles a brief stopover in Raleigh, North Carolina in the late summer of 2025.

Raleigh.

My dear friend, and fellow Iowa native, Scott was engaged to be wed in the fall of that year. Despite being from northern Iowa, somehow the poor guy grew up a fan of the Detroit Lions. If you haven't been paying attention to the NFL lately, the Lions have clawed their way out of their decades-long residence at or near the bottom of the league and have ranked among the more consistently good franchises over the past several years, having made the NFC title game in 2024. With expectations for the team sky-high going into the 2025-2026 season, and his impending transition into domestic wedded bliss, Scott decided his bachelor party would be in Detroit.

Stevie greetings.

He picked a week two matchup - the Lions' home opener - versus the upstart division rival Chicago Bears, so I started poking around for airfares. In my poking around I stumbled across an intriguing proposition from Frontier Airlines: would I like to catch the 6:00 AM flight from DTW back to DEN (meh, I mean, I guess), orrrrrrrr, would I prefer a departure later in the morning with a five-hour layover in Ralegih, North Carolina?

The old "Bachelor party in Detroit" cliche.

This was too good to be true! Though it might have been a bit risky, I jumped at the chance to tack a quick Crapitol visit onto the trip. After all, it could prove to be too tight of a window to complete my objective, but if I didn't take this opportunity now I'd have to plan a separate trip back to Raleigh sometime in the future. So I was off to Detroit to meetup with Scott and the boys.

Dream come true.

After a long weekend of beer, cigars, and the three G's (Grilling, Gambling, and Golf), we got our beloved bachelor to his ultimate destination: Ford Field in downtown Detroit. The Lions dominated the Bears and won easily 52-21. A surprise bonus was when the video screen showed local hero Eminem in the luxury box sitting right next to Barry Sanders, sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy. Short of getting murdered by a gang of criminals and resurrected to become a cyborg law enforcement officer, one couldn't ask for a more peak Detroit experience.

Pennies!

The next morning we were all on our flights back to Colorado, Minnesota, or in my case North Carolina. I landed at RDU and grabbed a Lyft into town. I had done some research prior to the trip so I could find a place to drop my luggage while I strolled about for a few hours. Luckily, the Amtrak office at Union Station offered a storage service for a nominal fee. There is also a souvenir penny machine at the station, so that worked out quite nicely.

Sir Walter.

After dropping my luggage I proceeded to my next objective: acquiring coffee. A Google search led me to Sir Walter Coffee, which I obviously couldn't pass up due to the historical reference and great branding. The city of Raleigh, of course, is the namesake of Sir Walter Raleigh, the English statesman, explorer, and one-time favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Always in and out of trouble with the monarchy for various transgressions, such as secretly marrying one of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting without permission, to plotting against James I, to sacking Spanish colonial outposts in violation of a peace treaty, his luck ran out in October of 1618 when he was executed at the Tower of London. Here's a piece of throwback Crapitols trivia for you: there are two US capital cities named after people who were executed by beheading. Raleigh is one, do you remember the other?

Greek Revival.

I sipped my coffee as I ambled the few short blocks toward the capitol. Raleigh was established as the permanent capital of North Carolina way back in 1792. The first capitol building was completed on the site in 1796 and stood for 35 years until it met an all-to-predictable, but ironic end. In June of 1831, during efforts to fireproof the building, workers accidentally set it ablaze and it burned to the ground. You had one job.

Shocking: previous building destroyed by fire.

The current Greek revival style building was completed in 1840 with extensive use of slave labor. All branches of the state government operated in the building until 1888, when the Supreme Court relocated to a separate building, with the Legislative bodies departing for the new State Legislative building in 1963. Only the Governor's office remains in the building today.

Polk, Jackson, Johnson.

There is a monument on east side of the building commemorating the three POTUSes North Carolina gave the nation. Sculpted by Charles Keck and dedicated in 1948, it is titled Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation. James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson were North Carolina natives, and even though Andrew Jackson's birthplace is somewhere not exactly known along the North Carolina-South Carolina border, they decided to claim him anyway. If you'll recall, we encountered all three of these guys previously at the Tennessee capitol, which houses prominent busts of Jackson and Johnson, and the actual tomb of James K. Polk.

Pretty spare.

I finished my coffee and entered the building, where I encountered the most comically lax security situation I've yet seen on my journey. An empty desk sat next to the lone magnetometer just inside the entrance. No gates, no ropes or stanchions, and no security officer of any kind to be seen. Ten feet beyond the empty desk was the information desk, and eventually the gentleman posted there noticed me and told me to just start putting my belongings in one of the trays and that the officer would be back soon. Sure thing. Once the officer returned I was perfunctorily waved through.

Caesar Washington.

Disappointingly, there are no guided tours available at the North Carolina capitol. The gentleman at the information desk curtly stamped my passport and directed me to the self-guided tour brochures. The main feature on the first floor is the statue of George Washington depicted as a Roman general. The original Antonio Canova statue was destroyed in the 1831 fire, so this replica was installed in 1970.

Rotunda.

Nearby on the first floor I was able to peak into the Governor's office, the only branch of the state government remaining in the building.

The Governor's ergonomic chair.

Overall the building is very spare and unadorned. One interesting highlight is the staircase to the second floor. A replica wheelbarrow full of firewood challenges visitors to lift it (it's tethered to the floor) to get a sense of the difficult task (performed by slaves, of course) of wheeling the heavy load up the stairs to keep the building heated. There are still deep grooves worn into the stone steps from these wheelbarrows.

Could you lift it up those stairs?

Wheel barrow wear and tear.

The second floor opens to the statue of Washington below and the rotunda above. It also leads to the entrances of the Senate and House of Representatives chambers.

Second floor rotunda.

House of Representatives.

The House of Representatives features an original copy of Gilbert Stuart's famous Landsdowne portrait of George Washington, which was actually saved from the 1831 capitol fire.

Senate chamber.

The Senate chamber is on the opposite side of the building and has stars on the carpet. Not much else to report. The third floor of the building is home to the former State Library and State Geologist's office, as well as the galleries overlooking the legislative chambers.

Library.

Senate gallery.

Geologist's office.

That was pretty much all there was to see at the North Carolina capitol. So I made my way back down to the ground floor to use the restroom.

All hope abandon, ye who enter here.

Located near the main entrance just across from the aforementioned minimal security desk is the only available public restroom. And my dear readers, it was, by far, the WORST restroom I've encountered so far on my trip. Where to even start?

Yikes.

Obviously the facilities have undergone several updates over the past 185 years, and the constraints of the original building design have been a serious impediment. Additionally, the ouster of most of the state government apparatus has preempted any need for a major overhaul. But boy, is this a terrible bathroom; the worst feature being the absurdly low stall dividers, which I towered over nearly head and shoulders.

Hello there.

Despite these rough conditions, I did what came to do. My five-hour layover gamble paid off. Crapitol number 32 in the books.

American hero.

I had a few hours left before I had to head back to the airport, so I decided to see what the Carolina barbecue was all about. Google led me to a well-reviewed restaurant near Union Station called The Pit.

BBQ.

North Carolina BBQ is very pork-forward, and the sauce skews tangier than other regional styles. I had a big old heaping plate of the pulled pork and brisket, with mac and collard greens. The biscuits and honey butter were perfection. An excellent meal, but nothing has yet topped my visit to Franklin Barbecue in Austin, TX.

Much yum.

With a belly full of BBQ I retrieved my luggage and hitched a ride back to the airport for my flight home. All-in-all, I'm glad I got this tidy little trip out of the way on a layover rather than making a dedicated journey to Raleigh. The city was nice enough, but I couldn't see myself enjoying more than a day there. The North Carolina capitol itself, with its spare design, lackluster decor, lack of guided tours, or really many interesting features at all, and absolutely atrocious bathrooms ranks it firmly at the bottom of my list of capitols thus far. They can't all be winners.

Stay tuned for my next adventure!

Oh, and the other capital city named for someone beheaded: St. Paul, MN.