North Carolina Governor’s Mansion, Sans Fence

I noticed this postcard the other day, and I’m posting it not for what it shows, but for what it doesn’t—the enormous brick and metal fence that now encloses the whole city block. This postcard is dated ca. 1912. I wonder when the fence was added?

4 thoughts on “North Carolina Governor’s Mansion, Sans Fence”

  1. According to William Bushong’s carefully researched book, “North Carolina’s Executive Mansion: The First Hundred Years,” published in in 1991, the fence/wall was completed in 1972-1973. It was part of a larger landscaping project prepared by Lewis Clarke Associates in 1968, which was in turn part of a larger improvement and enhancement project begun by Mrs. Dan K. Moore and others. Bushong says that although some of the other landscaping features were not funded, the fence was funded, in part in response to various demonstrations that had taken place on the grounds during 1968 and 1969 over racial issues and the Viet Nam war. I remember when we first moved to Raleigh there was no wall. It was nice. (There’s a good story in the book about Terry Sanford going out on the porch in 1963 in his white tie and wing collar during a formal dinner to address a group of students who were protesting segregation. )

  2. The building looks so much better without the wall. Maybe we should follow Ronald Reagan’s admonition re the Berlin Wall and tear it down.

    Wow! Never thought I’d be quoting Ronnie Raygun.

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