Last Day in Raleigh, North Carolina

Our last day in the area. We drove back into Raleigh and found Murray’s Barbecue, which was listed in the Roadfood book and had lunch. Old Time BBQ was better. We drove around the Oakwood Historic District, north of downtown and stopped in the Oakwood Cemetery. The cemetery has some wonderful granite monuments and headstones, together with an area of Confederate soldiers. So many of them were marked with “Unknown Soldier.” We were reading one of the monuments that had a list of accomplishments and offices held by this one man. Suddenly, an older gentleman (he said he was 80 something) was walking over saying, “That’s my family’s plot” and he launched into family history and history of everyone in the cemetery. He was a fourth-generation Raleigh resident and, had he not been leaving to pick up someone from school, I think he could have talked for days. He was obviously a regular visitor and knew everyone’s business. He said he lives in the second oldest house in Raleigh right there in Oakwood. A funny and interesting encounter.
We stopped by AAA to get maps of the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia, our next stop. While we were there we asked for help in making hotel reservations in New York at Christmas. Two of the hotels near Times Square that we had looked at had rates starting at $450. Not acceptable. The nice lady (who retired from AAA in San Francisco and moved back here to take care of her parents) made a reservation at the Hilton on the Avenue of the Americas across from Rockefeller Center. Yippee!!
Two other local “tourist attractions” include the State Farmer’s Market and the City Market. The State Farmer’s Market is operated by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and includes wholesale and retail market space. It is open all day seven days a week and the property includes restaurants, a garden center, and a craft building. We talked to a gentleman who creates beautiful hand painted plaques. We considered ordering one for Toby and took his card. The City Market is an historic area of downtown that is trying hard but has a way to go to be a vibrant area. They are building some living spaces downtown that will help.
Back south to Garner and the Pastor’s class at Lord of Life. The subject was “The Family Tree of Lutheranism” and he gave a succinct time line of the various branches of our church that originally were along ethnic lines. It was very interesting