Wake Wednesday: The importance of Bloomsbury c.1771

When Wake County was formed in 1771, there was no Raleigh. The city of Raleigh did not come into being until about twenty years later.

The original center of business and county seat when Wake was first established was called Bloomsbury and alternately Wake Courthouse. It was the site of many Wake County firsts - first election, first court, first militia formation. I remember reading (in an old N&O article) that Bloomsbury may have been the sight of the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Wake County. It is worth visiting that spot and imagining the magic of that moment. 

A placque to commemorate the importance of the hamlet of Bloomsbury still stands near the Joel Lane house who gave the land on which the hamlet was located. The inscription  reads -

On and around this spot stood the old town of 

Bloomsbury

or

Wake Court-house

which was erected and made the county seat when Wake County was established in 1771.

This place was the rendezvous point of a part of Governor Tryon's army when he marched against the Regulators in 1771; Here met the state Revolutionary Assembly in 1781, and to this vicinity was removed the seat of government when the capital city of Raleigh was incorporated in 1792. This memorial placed by Bloomsbury Chapter, Daughters of the Revolution, A. D. 1911. 

Source: docsouth.unc.edu

Was Bloomsbury the location for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Wake County? Can you stand on that very spot today? Read on...

On Bloomsbury history - 

Little known to anyone other than the locals or the avid historian, the first county seat for Wake County, North Carolina was Bloomsbury, established in 1771 and referred to by most simply as Wake Court House. Bloomsbury remained the county seat until the planned community of Raleigh was established in 1792. ...

When Raleigh was created on Joel Lane's 1,000 acres, the hamlet of Bloomsbury was totally incorporated into the new county seat and State Capital. Today there is an historical neighborhood within Raleigh city limits known as Bloomsbury.

Read the Carolana article in full here.

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