05/26/12 338 W, 1 I - + 3 - 1 Raleigh's Past Treasures - Questions From a Reader
Longtime resident Cliff Small sends the following comments and questions. He's lived in town since 1967 and remembers much of "old Raleigh." He has four questions, which we're punting to our blog readers. Answers? More questions? Thanks for everyone's help.
- He's a covered bridge buff and last year was stunned and
thrilled to find that there had been a covered bridge on the old
Louisburg Road, now Capital Boulevard, over Crabtree Creek. His only real source about this is from this web page.
He's been going mad trying to find out more information on this bridge. All he has found is that there was a bridge there named the Jones Bridge. This is the same family of the Crabtree Joneses, maybe? There was an encampment North of the site during the Civil War. There is a parallel railroad bridge and some curious metal pieces sticking out of the ground along the greenway trail nearby.
- He currently lives off Lead Mine Road and has seen a photo online
of the mine shaft, but doesn't know exactly where it was/is. (He can't find that online article currently.) There is the old red building across from Mine
Shaft Road. He did find this story, however, about a mine inside the Beltline.
- He can remember when you could cross under the train tracks off Capital Boulevard, where you get onto Wake Forest Road and go over to
Atlantic Avenue. This was a one-lane deal. I wish this could be opened up
again for at least bicyclists as a part of a bike trail access to the
downtown area.
- Are there any plan views of the old Bloomsbury Park that anyone knows of?
--
May 28, 2012
This isn't quite what Cliff is asking for, but it's still interesting. It's a 1913 plan for Terminal Park beside Bloomsbury Park. It's featured in the recently published book Stories to Tell - A Centennial Celebration of Carolina Country Club: 1910-2010. Click to enlarge:
Regarding question #2, the linked story is about a cave off Airline Drive that’s beside a creek bed, and that we’ve blogged about before: http://www.legeros.com/ralwake/photos/we..
Save is on private property, on the back of someone’s residential lot. I’d heard, somewhere, that the cave was used for storing or hiding things during the Civil War. Unsure if that’s a former mine.
Regarding the “lead mine” of Lead Mine Road, that refers to the land north and west of the Lynn and Lead Mine road intersection. There was a graphite mine there, with three shafts, I believe. If you climb that hill, along Lead Mine, you’ll find graphite traces on the ground. Pretty cool.
Maybe twenty years ago, the N&O featured a property owner there, who had pumped out one of the shafts, and taken a picture in there. More than a few people have probably tried to find that place!
I am also sending Cliff some reader-sent information, for further sources.
Legeros - 05/28/12 - 17:12
Regarding #4, see drawing added above.
Legeros - 05/28/12 - 17:28