NEW LOCATION “Isaac Hunter and His Tavern” by Belle Long

As a board member of the Wake County Historical Society, Belle Long has been researching Isaac Hunter and his famous tavern. The Society was asked by the Raleigh Citizens’ Advisory Council, which includes the location of the land owned by Hunter, to look into the history of the area now that the land is about to be developed. What emerged is a fascinating glimpse of a mercurial man who had a small part in shaping the future of the state’s capital: in 1788, an Ordinance of the Constitutional Convention fixed location of the permanent state capital within 10 miles of Isaac Hunter’s plantation, and in 1792 the Commissioners appointed to choose a site for the capital met at his tavern and then adjourned to Joel Lane’s for the next two weeks of site selection.