City preview · RALEIGH
The City of Oaks celebrates with a giant copper-and-steel acorn. Its old capitol burned during fireproofing work; the stone building came afterwards. At Hunt Library, books wait in bins retrieved by machinery. Mecca brought its wooden furniture along when the restaurant moved.
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A state capital, an acorn and a book robot
Four complete stories and their public sources are shown here; the rest of the collection is in the app.
01 · North Carolina State Capitol
Fireproofing did not save the old State House.
The old State House was undergoing fireproofing work when it burned in 1831. Its stone replacement, completed in 1840, is the Capitol here today. Legislators later moved to a new building to the north; the old chambers retain their nineteenth-century appearance. The copper roof still needs periodic work. It was replaced again in 2024.
Source: visitraleigh.com
02 · Giant Acorn Sculpture
Raleigh lowers an acorn to welcome the new year.
David Benson made this copper-and-steel acorn in 1992 for Raleigh's two-hundredth anniversary. About ten feet (three meters) tall and weighing more than 1,100 pounds (five hundred kilograms), it usually stands in City Plaza. For First Night, it is hoisted up and lowered during the countdown. In the City of Oaks, the new year arrives with an acorn.
Source: downtownraleigh.org
03 · Hunt Library bookBot, NC State University
The computer knows which box holds your book.
Hunt Library's bookBot stores books by size in more than eighteen thousand bins, with a computer recording each location. A request brings the right bin to staff, who handle the loan. The system uses about one-ninth the space of ordinary shelving, freeing room for study and collaboration. A demonstration button beside the first-floor window lets visitors watch it retrieve a bin.
Source: lib.ncsu.edu
04 · Mecca Restaurant
The old wooden furniture came along in 1937.
Mecca started on a different corner. When Nick and Helen Dombalis moved to Martin Street in 1937, they brought the wooden furniture. Their children helped: John and Gus stood on soda crates to wash dishes. The restaurant later expanded upstairs, and grandson Paul operated the dumbwaiter at eleven.
Source: mecca-restaurant.com Source: wral.com
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