Q 01/05

Raleigh's namesake, Sir Walter Raleigh, sponsored which early English colony in America?

A) Jamestown

B) Roanoke

C) Plymouth

D) Charles Town

Answer · why

B) Roanoke

Roanoke. The 'lost colony' vanished from Roanoke Island after 1587, and Raleigh himself never once set foot in North America.

Q 02/05

North Carolina's 1788 convention ordered its new capital, Raleigh, built within ten miles of what?

A) Courthouse

B) Ferry landing

C) Tavern

D) Church

Answer · why

C) Tavern

A tavern. Isaac Hunter's roadside inn was the landmark the convention named, but he never got the sale: the state bought 1,000 acres from a neighbour ...

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

City of Oaks. Each New Year's Eve the city rings in midnight by lowering a giant copper-and-steel acorn by crane, a sculpture made for Raleigh's 1992 ...

Q 04/05

Wake County, of which Raleigh 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

The wife of Governor William Tryon. Margaret Wake was a London heiress whose family connections likely helped win her husband his North Carolina post,...

Q 05/05

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

A) John Hinton

B) Willie Jones

C) Joel Lane

D) William Boylan

Answer · why

C) Joel Lane

Joel Lane. The site commissioners lodged at his house while they weighed rival tracts, then bought 1,000 acres of his plantation for the new capital.