TRAVEL
By Jen | December 22, 2016
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I've lived in North Carolina for over 20 years and worked downtown for 15 years, passing by the Executive Mansion every single day, yet I have never visited or gone in once for a tour. It's one of those things that you may look forward to as a tourist, but not in your hometown. Nonetheless, this year I was determined to visit the Mansion for its Holiday Open House.
The Executive Mansion, also referred to as the "people's house" was constructed in 1891 and has been home to the state's leaders ever since. The first official residence takes us east to New Bern and the Tryon Palace, built for Governor William Tryon until the General Assembly decided to move, eventually named Raleigh as its state capitol in 1778. The first governor to occupy the mansion was Daniel Fowler from January 1891 to April 1891, upon his death.
There has been a total of twenty-nine governors that have lived in the Mansion. The current governor, Pat McCrory, will soon hand over the keys to incoming governor, Roy Cooper, who will become number thirty on January 1, 2017.
The first floor of the Mansion was beautifully decorated for the holidays with North Carolina grown Christmas trees.
