Q 01/05

Sir Walter Raleigh, the city's namesake, sponsored which failed English settlement in North Carolina?

A) Jamestown

B) Roanoke

C) Plymouth

D) Charles Town

Answer · why

B) Roanoke

The 'lost colony' vanished from Roanoke Island after 1587; its sponsor never set foot in North America himself.

Q 02/05

The purpose-built North Carolina capital was incorporated on December 31 of which year?

A) 1776

B) 1783

C) 1792

D) 1801

Answer · why

C) 1792

The site had been chosen in 1788 because its inland location was safe from coastal attack; no town existed there before the surveyors arrived.

Q 03/05

Thanks to its tree-lined streets, Raleigh is known by what nickname?

A) City of Pines

B) City of Elms

C) City of Magnolias

D) City of Oaks

Answer · why

D) City of Oaks

The name is celebrated every New Year's Eve, when a giant copper acorn is dropped downtown at midnight.

Q 04/05

Wake County, of which the city is the seat, was named in honor of whom?

A) The wife of Governor William Tryon

B) The daughter of a Roanoke colonist

C) An English shipping merchant

D) A Tuscarora chief

Answer · why

A) The wife of Governor William Tryon

Margaret Wake Tryon lent her maiden name to the county in 1771, two decades before the capital city was laid out inside it.

Q 05/05

Which planter, the 'Father of Raleigh', sold the land on which the capital was built?

A) John Hinton

B) Richard Pullen

C) Joel Lane

D) William Boylan

Answer · why

C) Joel Lane

The site commission had leaned toward John Hinton's land across the river until an evening of food and spirits at Lane's house swung the vote his way.