The Raleigh You've Never Seen: A Secret Guide to the City with Emily Price

Secret Raleigh with Emily Price: Hidden Gems, Ghost Stories & Lost Landmarks

Melissa interviews Emily Price, author of “Secret Raleigh: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure,” about unusual and mysterious places around Raleigh. Price explains her love of weird history and how she researched multiple versions of local legends using the North Carolina Archives and old newspapers. She shares crowd-pleasing finds like one of the first electric guitars being made at NC State, the pink dog remnant of Gotno Farm behind Preservation NC on Oberlin Road, and haunted lore including the Heck-Andrews House and a reportedly haunted room in the governor’s mansion. The conversation also covers Hargett Street’s “Black Main Street,” Bloomsbury Park’s former rides and carousel now at Pullen Park, and recommendations like downtown wandering, the Muffler Man landmark, and visiting Raleigh Times.

00:00 Sponsor Messages
01:44 Meet Emily Price
03:05 Why Raleigh Secrets
04:48 Fact Checking Legends
05:59 Crowd Pleasers
07:00 Cut Stories Food Focus
08:33 Gotno Farm Pink Dog
10:14 Hotels Taverns History
14:28 Pretty Places Waterfall
18:00 Ghost Stories Begin
19:04 Haunted House Update
19:48 Raleigh Ghost Stories
20:46 Black Main Street History
24:00 Bloomsbury Park Rides
26:40 Pullen Park Zoo Tales
28:21 Future North Carolina Book
29:14 Lightning Round Favorites
32:56 Where to Buy Secret Raleigh

Creators and Guests

Host

Melissa

Host of What's Up, Wake + social media manager + writer + travel editor

Guest

 Emily Price

Author of Secret Raleigh: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure.

What is What’s Up, Wake?

What’s Up, Wake covers the people, places, restaurants, and events of Wake County, North Carolina. Through conversations with local personalities from business owners to town staff and influencers to volunteers, we’ll take a closer look at what makes Wake County an outstanding place to live. Presented by Cherokee Media Group, the publishers of local lifestyle magazines Cary Magazine, Wake Living, and Main & Broad, What’s Up, Wake covers news and happenings in Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and Wake Forest.

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[00:01:44] Melissa: Today we're going off the beaten path, peeking behind hidden doors and uncovering some of the quirkiest corners of our community. If you've ever driven past a place 100 times and wondered, "What's the story behind that?" Well, you're in luck. Our guest today is Emily Price, author of Secret Raleigh: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure, a fascinating guide to the unusual, unexpected and sometimes downright mysterious places hiding in plain sight around the City of Oaks.

From forgotten landmarks to curious local legends, Emily has done some serious digging so you don't have to go on a scavenger hunt, although after this conversation, you might just want to. We'll talk about the hidden gems, strange stories and surprising discoveries that make Raleigh such a unique place to call home.

So grab your magnifying glass, put on your detective hat and prepare to uncover a few secrets. Hi, Emily.

[00:02:41] Emily Price: Hi.

[00:02:42] Melissa: Thank you so much for being here today. Yeah. You're, you were highlighted in our, let's see, May issue, I think, of Carry magazine. Okay. So I wanted to have you on. And I have a copy of your book here.

Yay. As you were coming in, I was telling you I, I stopped by Quail Ridge Bookstore and picked this up yesterday, and I was excited to see that it was signed. That was ... That felt extra fancy.

[00:03:04] Emily Price: Yeah.

[00:03:04] Melissa: Okay. I did read in the book that you are not technically a lifelong resident of Raleigh- ... but you've been here since, what, you were six?

[00:03:12] Emily Price: I've been off and on a- Like, I moved here when I was six, um, t- um, like first grade, um, and then I lived here till I was 30, and then I actually took a brief stint away and came back, um, about five years ago. So-

[00:03:25] Melissa: So we'll, we'll count you as a native.

[00:03:26] Emily Price: Yeah. My family's been here the whole time, so yeah, native and then, yeah, and then I, I never really left.

I feel like I was here quite a, quite often, even when I was away.

[00:03:34] Melissa: So what made you decide you wanted to write a book about Raleigh?

[00:03:39] Emily Price: I've always been a huge fan of weird things. Mm-hmm. Um, like I, I love, like as you were saying in kind of your intro, like the, like the unique thing that like you pass on the side of the road and you're like, "What is that?"

Like, "What's going on with that?" I love a like weird story, I love, I love history, and so I kind ... There are so many neat little stories about Raleigh that, like, I've learned over the years from talking to people or, you know, just from living here, and so I kinda wanted to dig a little deeper into those and learn a little more about everything around us.

[00:04:08] Melissa: I do feel like Raleigh is sometimes overshadowed by some of the bigger cities.

[00:04:14] Emily Price: Mm-hmm.

[00:04:14] Melissa: What makes its history and character uniquely weird?

[00:04:19] Emily Price: Um, I don't know about u- I mean, every- I ... One thing I learned through this is like every s- I feel like everybody has like a dozen different stories for everything.

Mm-hmm. Um, and there's a lot ... Like, I don't know that it's necessarily uni- Like, every s- every city probably has its own unique stories. We just have some really fun ones. Yeah. Um, if that makes sense.

[00:04:39] Melissa: And I do think that, to your point- We, we have a lot of stories that everybody has a little bit of a different spin on, too.

Mm-hmm. So as I was reading your book, that came to mind. How, how do you know which spin is true? Because my uncle might tell it one way

[00:04:58] Emily Price: That's-

[00:04:58] Melissa: But the man across the street might tell it a different way.

[00:05:02] Emily Price: Yeah. I've done a few events, and I think I've started every event with that disclaimer. Mm. Um, I think I was telling you before we started recording that I was

At the first one, there was a lot of, there was a lot of older residents in the audience, and I was so nervous that, like, they were gonna start calling out, like, things. Um, but I think that there's, there are, like, any good story has a dozen different versions of it, like, even, like, the ones with your friends.

And so I would go through ... I mean, I went to the ... I spent a lot of time at the North Carolina archives, just a tremendous amount of time. And even then, if you go back in, like, some old newspapers, like, this is a wild tale that's not true.

[00:05:31] Melissa: Yeah. I'm

[00:05:31] Emily Price: reading this and I don't, I don't re- believe that either. So kind of, I tried to find every version of the story and then kind of distill down what I thought was actually true.

And so there were a few things that came up that I was like, "Oh, this is not how I have known it my entire life," but, like, when I really, like, dug into it, this is the, this is the way it probably is. Mm. Um, and then there were a lot of, like, wild things, um, that I didn't know about at all that, like, dis- I discovered kinda going through that.

[00:05:59] Melissa: Is there one story that when you're, when you're at a, a book signing or something like that or at an event that it gets the most reaction out of people?

[00:06:09] Emily Price: Um, I don't ... I think every- there's something in the book for everybody, I think. Yeah. Like, whether you're- I think

[00:06:15] Melissa: that is a good

[00:06:16] Emily Price: point ... yeah, whether you're looking for, like, just really quirky things or you're looking for, like, kind of hard history, I think there's something- Yeah

that, like, really is good for everybody in there. Um, so there's not, like, one story in particular that really, like, drives something. I think one thing that I thought was the most exciting was, um, one of the first electric guitars in the United States was made at NC State, and I think that was one of the things that I was really surprised by and got really interested in.

That is

[00:06:40] Melissa: one story I had never heard.

[00:06:41] Emily Price: Yeah. Yeah. And then I, when I, when I tell people, you know, just, just, like, at bars, you know, what's in the book and I mention that, like, I, people wanna see the pictures of it. Like, it becomes, like, a big, like, that's really, really interesting. Mm-hmm. Um, and that, that j- yeah, just a f- yeah, I thought that was a fun story.

So that's kind of a c- a crowd-pleaser, if you will, but yeah.

[00:07:00] Melissa: Were there any stories that after you wrote the book that j- just, just barely didn't make the cut?

[00:07:08] Emily Price: I did a couple different versions of this book, to be completely honest. Like, um, when I started with my publisher, originally it was really heavily, um, food oriented.

Not, not heavily, but like maybe like 25% of the book was, was, was food establishments. And then we kind of like dialed it back and were like, "You know what? Maybe not as many food places, and like, let's kind of go into some more historical buildings and things like that." So there wasn't anything that really just didn't, um, got cut as necessarily kind of, kind of changing direction- Mm-hmm

and like deciding, you know, maybe for this particular book it makes more sense to kinda focus on, yeah, buildings and things that you can go look at rather than eat.

[00:07:43] Melissa: There was one thing that was in the, the Kerry magazine story that- Mm ... I, I don't remember what it was, but it had something to do with food.

Ham maybe? Um, maybe-

[00:07:53] Emily Price: Was there a ham story? ... maybe Mecca has a re- had a really, really, really old ham.

[00:07:57] Melissa: Oh, yeah. That's it.

[00:07:58] Emily Price: That's it. That might be it, yeah. Yes. Yeah, Mecca had a really old ham. And so, and yeah, and they would- Like

[00:08:02] Melissa: an actual ham?

[00:08:03] Emily Price: An actual, an actual ham. Like one of the hams that like are on the, like if you've been to like a Spanish restaurant where they have them on the rack and you- Yes

kind of cut a little piece off. And it was ... I can't remember how old it was now, but it was, it was an age that I would not normally eat the ham.

[00:08:17] Melissa: Yeah. I mean- And the owner- ... I just kind of think, are we allowed to eat something that old? Yeah.

[00:08:22] Emily Price: Yeah, and the owner of Mecca used to like k- pull it out and like, yeah, slice little pieces off sometimes.

[00:08:27] Melissa: Um. Ooh, yum.

[00:08:29] Emily Price: Love some old meat, yeah.

[00:08:30] Melissa: Yes. Okay. There's some stories in the book that even, even if I've heard about the story before, it, they just kind of feel to me like it's a hidden gem that we're stepping into a whole different world. It doesn't even feel like you're in Raleigh.

[00:08:49] Emily Price: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:49] Melissa: Are there any of those that you, that come to mind when I say that to you?

[00:08:53] Emily Price: , So there's a farm.

Uh, there was a farm called Gotno Farm, and this guy made, um... You can find... There's a tiny piece of it left behind, um, the Preservation NC building on, um, Oberlin Road, but it's this big, giant, pink, funny-looking dog.

[00:09:09] Melissa: Yeah, that's on the cover.

[00:09:10] Emily Price: And it's on the cover. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I was, like, a little mad that I had no idea this place ever existed.

Like, there were all these- I've never heard of this ... like, amazing, like, structures. And the h- the, the story of the dog is, like, the, some, the, like, if you look at old pictures of this place, like, he had just fantastical, like, creations sort of like the, this big s- big dog. Um, and some little girl came and, like, she's like, "Oh, this isn't nothing," and it isn't anything, like a- to the guy who owned it.

And so he was k- trying to show up a child with the big pink dog, which I thought was very funny. Um, and then, um, Preservation NC, it's the only piece of it that's left now. Um-

[00:09:47] Melissa: This dog

[00:09:47] Emily Price: is ... is the dog. Yeah. Okay. And so they've kind of named it their little mascot. And it's just, it's behind, um, it's behind their building on, um, on Oberlin, but there is, like, an apartment building behind it.

Like, you can just kinda go up and, like, hang out with the dog, take pictures with the dog.

[00:10:00] Melissa: Yeah.

[00:10:01] Emily Price: Yeah. Um.

[00:10:01] Melissa: Yeah, I've never seen it. Um. And I've never heard of Gotno Farm.

[00:10:04] Emily Price: Yeah. And I've probably driven past that, like, 100 times before I realized it was there. Yeah, so.

[00:10:08] Melissa: Yeah. And I, and I, you know, even if you see it, you still don't know what it is.

You

don't know the history behind it. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

If Raleigh's hidden places could talk, which one do you think would have the best stories? I've got one in my mind that I feel like would have really good story, but what, what would you say? Oh, I

[00:10:27] Emily Price: think there's lots of, like... I mean, there's lots of good stories probably everywhere. I honestly think, like, the Sir Walter Raleigh might be my- Ah

my pick for that. Yeah. Just 'cause it was, it was a, like, it was known in, like, political circles as a party hotel, and it would be, like, where all the, like- All the, like, state senators and, like, they would go and- Oh, yeah ...

[00:10:45] Melissa: like,

[00:10:45] Emily Price: party and stay at-

[00:10:46] Melissa: There's some, there are some good stories there ... and

[00:10:47] Emily Price: there's, like, and there was a nightclub in it.

Like, I just feel like that, that's, there's probably some just wild stories that never got out from there.

[00:10:54] Melissa: Yeah.

[00:10:55] Emily Price: Um.

[00:10:55] Melissa: The, s- mine is similar. It's the, the Isaac Hunter's Tavern.

[00:10:59] Emily Price: Yeah.

[00:10:59] Melissa: Is that what it's called? Isaac Hunter's- Isaac Hunter's Tavern, yeah ... yes. Uh, because can you tell us a little bit about that?

Because that, that is really where our capital got its location, right?

[00:11:10] Emily Price: Yeah, that was, I mean, it was a popular place to hang out, and I think there is actually, when I was doing some research for the book, I'm gonna ... I love the cher- there's this, like, the story that we've all heard is that, like, everybody got drunk on, like, cherry bounce drinks one night and then decided that this was the capital.

Hm. And I, um, I love that story, and I'm gonna keep it, but I don't think, from researching this, I think that might not have been 100% correct.

[00:11:32] Melissa: Okay.

[00:11:32] Emily Price: Um, but I think that it's a- We'll

[00:11:33] Melissa: go with it,

[00:11:34] Emily Price: though ... we're, we're gonna go with it because it's a great story. Yeah. And that's, yeah, one thing that I've learned.

Um, but yeah, the, um, yeah, so Isaac Hunter's Tavern, it was kind, it's where the North Raleigh Hilton is, which is something that I didn't know going into this. It used to be, like, physically where the North Raleigh Hilton-

[00:11:47] Melissa: On

[00:11:48] Emily Price: Wake Forest- On Wake Forest Road.

[00:11:49] Melissa: Okay,

[00:11:49] Emily Price: yeah. Yeah, that was where Isaac Hunter's Tavern was.

Ah. And it sat there until, like, the '80s, um, and just got c- increasingly more dilapidated until Hilton came. I mean, and, like, this sounds like Hilton, like, came in and just bulldozed it, and I think that there was more nuance to it than that. Mm-hmm. But they but they tore it down to, um, to build the North Raleigh Hilton there, and then it kinda sat in the woods for a while.

And it's one of the things that I also found going through d- writing this book is that we didn't do a very good job of preserving a lot of our history- Yeah ... and things like that. And so, like, Isaac Hunter's Tavern is, like, this iconic place that we all have heard of, and, like, we don't have anything from it.

Mm. And it sat there till the '80s. Like, we could have maybe kept a little more of

[00:12:26] Melissa: it. Yeah, we have plenty of time.

[00:12:27] Emily Price: Yeah, we could have preserved that.

[00:12:29] Melissa: Yeah, plenty of chances. But

[00:12:29] Emily Price: instead we kinda let it fall into ruin, and then if you go in the lobby of the North Raleigh Hilton, they have, like, a piece of rope and, like, two pieces of wood and, like, a bottle or something from it.

Yeah. But it's just not, um, it's not what it could have been. Like, we could have, we could have done a little better job of that, and I think, yeah, there's a handful of stories in the book when I was researching it. It's like, "Oh, we could have done that a little better, guys." Like

[00:12:50] Melissa: Yeah, you, and you have a picture of that in, in the book, the, the display.

And I just thought to myself- ... that could be any piece of wood from any, any, you know, broken down building in town anywhere.

[00:13:04] Emily Price: Yeah.

[00:13:04] Melissa: But it's cool to make it sound like it's from- It's- ... Isaac Hunter's Tavern.

[00:13:08] Emily Price: I mean, I believe it is, but yeah. Mm-hmm. But it's just kind of labeled planks, and it's kind of- Mm-hmm

like, non-ceremoniously in, like, a, like, it's in a pillar in the, um- And then the North Raleigh Hilton lobby. So like it took me, like I knew they were there, and it took me a long time to find them in the- Wow ... in the Hilton lobby, which I mean may say more about my ability to see things, but -

[00:13:26] Melissa: Well, it's, it's just sad that that's all that's left.

[00:13:29] Emily Price: No, absolutely. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and the- and that we, yeah, had it till the '80s and- Yeah ... still managed to not preserve it, but...

[00:13:34] Melissa: Mm. So there's no pictures or anything of it?

[00:13:37] Emily Price: Not that I could fi- I mean, there's some pictures- Mm-hmm ... but not like real- like a lot of this, the history, history happened kinda before pe- cameras- Cameras, yeah

were super, were super regular. So like there's a lot of dilapidated pictures. Mm. Um, and one thing I recommend, if you g- if you're into this stuff like I am, like the, um, North Carolina Archives has a really great Flickr account, and you can go in and like look at old pictures of a lot of things. Um, and so some of the, they have a lot of Isaac Hunter's pictures- Oh, good.

Okay ... on there, yeah, of the old, of the old, um, old tavern. Okay. A lot of them are like pictures of it in various states of disrepair. Um, but you can, but it's a great, that's a great resource just if you wanna nerd out on Raleigh history- Yeah ... to kinda just go, and like even just go into the North Carolina Archives on Flickr and put in Raleigh and just kinda scroll and look at some of the stuff, 'cause

[00:14:22] Melissa: there's some- Oh, that's good to know

[00:14:22] Emily Price: yeah, 'cause there's some wild stuff that you can find pictures of.

[00:14:26] Melissa: I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Speaking of wild stuff, you have so many places in the book that in my mind, I m- Raleigh is a beautiful town. Mm. Beautiful city. Are, is there any place that you think is like pretty enough to be a movie setting- ... or, you know, a, a, a beautiful setting for some, some type of scene?

[00:14:49] Emily Price: Oh, that's, um... I mean, there's, there's lots of places

[00:14:52] Melissa: Yeah ...

[00:14:52] Emily Price: that are, that are really

[00:14:53] Melissa: pretty. Well, I think Pullen Park- Yeah. Yeah, yeah ... certainly comes to mind. Yeah. Pu- Pullen is one. Um- Yeah,

[00:14:57] Emily Price: Pullen is great. Dix is great.

[00:14:59] Melissa: Yeah.

[00:14:59] Emily Price: Um, I, um, one, one thing, uh, that I was s- s- surprised to find, which I may have known about, like the La- Lassiter Mill has a waterfall, like just on Lassiter Mill Road.

[00:15:09] Melissa: I've heard of it, but I've never been to it.

[00:15:11] Emily Price: Yeah. I grew up less than like two miles from there. Mm-hmm. And I, I don't know how I had no... Like, maybe at some point in my life I knew it was there and forgot. Yeah. Or, but, but I was so surprised by that, like when I was looking through, like looking up things and discovered- Mm-hmm

that. I was like, oh, I was like, "Is there?" And I went and I was like, this is really, it's a nice waterfall. So

[00:15:30] Melissa: it is still there.

[00:15:30] Emily Price: It's still there. Okay. And it's really nice. Like it's from, um, like Lassiter Mill, there used to be mills there, and so they were- Mm ... using the water to run, run the mills.

[00:15:39] Melissa: Okay.

[00:15:40] Emily Price: Um, but now there's no mills, and so there's just this waterfall.

Um, and it's, it's really, it's really pretty. Like, I- I want, I want to see that ... it's, it's a great, like, picnic spot.

[00:15:48] Melissa: Yeah.

[00:15:49] Emily Price: Um, it's right off of, um, Lassiter Mill Road. Like, it's so easy to get to. Like- Is it? Yeah. I just had no idea it was there. Um-

[00:15:56] Melissa: Is there a place to like park?

[00:15:58] Emily Price: Yeah.

[00:15:58] Melissa: And, and go walking there?

[00:15:59] Emily Price: There's a place to park. Oh. Like I wouldn't, I mean, it's not really a hike location. Mm-hmm. It's more like a, "Here's a waterfall." Yeah. But you can, um, but there's... When I, the time, when I went and took the pictures for the book, there were people like picnicking there. Mm-hmm. There was, you know, a c- it took me a long time to take the pictures, 'cause there were people climbing on it, and I had to like- Oh, okay

to get, to get a moment when there weren't people on it to take the pictures.

[00:16:17] Melissa: Yeah.

[00:16:18] Emily Price: Um, but yeah, it's, it's really beautiful and kind of just in the middle of North Raleigh, and super easy to get to. Um-

[00:16:25] Melissa: I've got that on my- ... on my bucket list to go visit. Yeah. That's for sure. I love ghost stories.

[00:18:01] Emily Price: Mm-hmm.

[00:18:02] Melissa: I'm wondering if you can tell us one story in this book that stands out to you that maybe is the place that's most likely to be haunted.

Or maybe even something that didn't make the book.

[00:18:13] Emily Price: Yeah. I'm trying to think. But there, I mean, there's a lot of ghost stories in the book. , My favorite is probably the Heck-Andrews House. It's on Blunt Street. It's a big pink house on Blunt Street.

[00:18:23] Melissa: Big, beautiful Victorian-

[00:18:24] Emily Price: Yeah, it's so- ... pink house. Yes ... it's such a pretty house, and you wonder who lived there. And, um, who lived there was a lady named Gladys, and she had, um, she never got married, and then she became like known as like the, um, like the eccentric lady of d- like I think we all probably have like that one lady in your neighborhood who you're like, "Oh, like what- We all do.

Yes. ... yeah, what is this woman doing again? Um, and she was the lady in the neighborhood. And so sh- and she walked around in, um, in like ghost makeup. She had, she was super eccentric, like just a wild character. Um, and so she's said to still... When she passed away, she passed away and all of her stuff was still in the house, and the house was kind of in disrepair, and so they-

[00:19:00] Melissa: And she was kind of a hoarder or something, right?

She was a, she was- A collector of trash, anyway. She was a collector of

[00:19:04] Emily Price: things.

[00:19:05] Melissa: Not just... Yes, yeah.

[00:19:06] Emily Price: Um, some that, some that might be determined by others as trash. And so, yeah, so there, it was quite an endeavor to kinda clear out her house. Yeah. But then, um, but then she's said to still kind of haunt the, the halls there.

Mm-hmm. Um, and yeah, she- Do,

[00:19:19] Melissa: do you know what's in that, that house now?

[00:19:21] Emily Price: I don't. I think it's, it's, I

[00:19:22] Melissa: think it's- I think it's a government house or something,

[00:19:24] Emily Price: right? I think it is too. Yeah. Yeah, I think there's offices. I'm just not sure what offices- Yeah ... are there.

[00:19:27] Melissa: I, I drive by it all the time.

[00:19:29] Emily Price: Yeah. And it's, and it's been restored since, since her tenure there.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's just, I, she's, I think she's the ghost I'd most like to just hang out with. Like, I think she'd be an interesting time, um, and probably have some really wild stories all of her own, some that are probably not true. But like

[00:19:44] Melissa: Yeah.

[00:19:44] Emily Price: But yeah, I, she's... So that's probably my favorite, yeah, ghost, ghosty spot.

The, but there's a ton. Um-

[00:19:50] Melissa: Yeah, there are, there are- We're, we're pretty- Yes. We're- I mean, there's, there's cemetery stories in here. There's, uh, Death and Taxes building, which I have heard about before and about that being haunted. There's, there's a lot of fun- Mm-hmm ... ghostlike stories.

[00:20:03] Emily Price: Yeah, there's a room in the governor's mansion that, that's supposedly- Yes

is haunted by one of our former governors.

[00:20:08] Melissa: With, um, something about a bed, right?

[00:20:10] Emily Price: Yeah, you can sometimes apparently, like, hear his bed against the wa- like r- rapping against the wall, or maybe they- Yeah ... took his bed out. It's been... Yeah.

[00:20:17] Melissa: I, I think they have taken the bed out- Yeah ... I want to say. But I feel like they took it out- Mm, mm-hmm

because people were so convinced that it was haunted.

[00:20:25] Emily Price: Yeah.

[00:20:25] Melissa: I need to look into that. Um, I've, I've had a guest on before that has told me a- about the, um, the haunted bed, which is certainly a unique story.

[00:20:33] Emily Price: Yeah, there's definitely, there's some, yeah, so many hauntings.

[00:20:36] Melissa: I brought my book with me because, and I've marked a couple of pages.

Okay. And I was hoping that you could tell us the stories that are on these two pages. Okay. The first one, let's see, page 28, it is Discovering Raleigh's Black Main Street. This is another story that I feel like I've heard along the way at some point, but I don't really know much about. So if you can tell us about Black Main Street.

[00:21:03] Emily Price: Yeah. Um, so Black Main Street is kind of exactly what that sounds like. Um, like, it, it is at a time when, like, th- things were segregated, Black Ma- Black Main Street was kind of where a lot of the city's Black community went and to do things. So it was where the dentist was, it was where, um, Lincoln Theater, which was not necessarily on the Main Street, but that was, that was a, a Black theater.

Um, the first Black dentist in North Carolina was on, um, was, was in, I think, where Remedy Diner is, or was. I guess it's not Remedy Diner anymore. Um-

[00:21:34] Melissa: Okay, so it's Hargett Street,

[00:21:36] Emily Price: right? Hargett

[00:21:36] Melissa: Street. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

[00:21:37] Emily Price: It's all of Hargett Street. Did I not say- Mm-hmm ... Hargett Street?

[00:21:40] Melissa: No, no. And I was, I was looking, I couldn't remember.

Um, and I love seeing these really old pictures that you have in here, too. Mm-hmm. But yeah, Hargett Street is, um, what? Like, Marbles is on Hargett Street now. Mm-hmm. So I'm trying to picture what is on it now. Yeah, a

[00:21:53] Emily Price: lot

[00:21:53] Melissa: of,

[00:21:54] Emily Price: a lot of this is kind of, like, where Raleigh Times is down- Yes ... to, like, where, down to, like, where Marbles, like, down to Blonde.

Okay. It's kind of, like, where, like, the- Mm-hmm ... the major things are. Um, Hamlin Drugs was the first Black, um, pharmacy in North Carolina, um, and that was in business until just a short time ago. Um, I think it closed down during the pandemic.

[00:22:13] Melissa: Wow.

[00:22:14] Emily Price: Um, and so yeah. That's a

[00:22:15] Melissa: shame.

[00:22:15] Emily Price: Yeah, um, the, there was a, there was a library, there was a barber, just kind of all the things that you would expect kind of on your city Main Street.

Um, but they were all there. One great thing about Black Main Street in particular is that a lot of that, um, they had, the city had some people paint, um, or s- I think it may have been an individual artist, but painted little, um, things on the sidewalk that kind of explain what some of the buildings are down there.

So if you do just kind of stroll Hargett Street, it's not all of the buildings- Mm-hmm ... but there are a handful of, like, the bigger ones that they've kind of put, um- markers on the sidewalk that you can read Oh, it's

[00:22:47] Melissa: still there

[00:22:47] Emily Price: now It's still there, yeah Oh. Some of those are still there now. They, I mean, it was a, several years ago- Mm-hmm

so they're not in the best state- Mm-hmm ... but they're still in a readable state. Um

[00:22:56] Melissa: I'm gonna have to do that because I would love to learn more about that, that section of downtown.

[00:23:01] Emily Price: Oh, absolutely. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and there's so, there's a lot of good resources. Like, one hazard of this book is I could only write, like, 2, 300 words for each- Mm-hmm

entry, and so there's so much rich history for a lot of that, um, that just didn't, didn't make the 300-word cut, but is really, really, really great and interesting. Um-

[00:23:17] Melissa: Yeah, some of these I feel like, and, and Black Main Street is one of them, that I feel like could be its own book.

[00:23:22] Emily Price: Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it absolutely could.

And so, yeah, d- a lot of these entries are kind of meant to be just to, like, spur your interest in it, and, like, if you... There's more about almost everything that I wrote about in that book than what I wrote, so y- look into

[00:23:36] Melissa: it. Well, that, that is one thing that I, I love, is that you also have a little sidebar-

[00:23:41] Emily Price: Mm-hmm

[00:23:43] Melissa: that- Mm-hmm ... that you have what, where, cost, you know, and tips about if you wanna go visit this place, where you can park, like with- ... Blaster Mill.

[00:23:50] Emily Price: Yeah.

[00:23:51] Melissa: Um, so, uh, and, and some of these where you can find out more information about it too. Mm-hmm. So, okay. The other one that I have marked, I can't even remember what it is.

Let me look Oh, I do remember Mm-hmm ... it is, um, Bloomsbury Park. I don't know anything about Bloomsbury Park, and I was fascinated that there w- there were real rides. Is that correct? Yeah,

[00:24:13] Emily Price: we had, we had a roller- Rollercoaster ... we had a rollercoaster. Never knew this. And, like, it was such a very brief time too.

I think it was only open maybe, like, 10 years. Um, I may be ... Don't quote me on the time- Mm-hmm ... on the timing, but it was a short time. But C, P, & L, which was the power company when I was growing up- Yep. ... um, they used, they had an electric trolley, and they wanted people to ride the electric trolley on the weekends and, like, other times when they weren't going to work, and so they, they built Bloomsbury Park expressly to get people to ride the trolley.

[00:24:41] Melissa: Oh.

[00:24:41] Emily Price: Like, that was the entire purpose, is to build, to build up trolley interest. Um, but it was, um, it was a park. It's kind of where North Hills is now. Um, like, it ... I did a reading at Quail Ridge, and I was like, "It's really right-ish where we are." It's where- Mm ... that kinda corner of- Okay ... um, of North Hills.

Okay. Um, and, um, they had, they had a, a wooden rollercoaster that I tried so hard to find a picture of, and I could not- Oh ... find a picture of. Um, I think there's one in the book that you can see that there is a rollercoaster back there- Mm-hmm ... but it's not, like, a good rollercoaster picture. Um, but they, um, they had a wooden rollercoaster.

They had a, um, a big carousel. Um, you could ... They did, they had a dance pavilion, and you could go out and, like, do ... They, they did, they held dances. Um, it was a big, like, social hub. Um, but they also discovered that maintaining a rollercoaster is a pricey endeavor.

[00:25:34] Melissa: Mm.

[00:25:35] Emily Price: Um, and so it w-

[00:25:36] Melissa: Even for a big energy company- Yeah

like C, P, & L back in the day.

[00:25:39] Emily Price: Yeah, and so eventually it ended up closing its doors and, like, kind of unceremoniously. Like, I, th- there's no, like, official end date. It's just, it kind of fizzled out and then wasn't there anymore. Um-

[00:25:51] Melissa: And, and part of this park is now at Pullen Park?

[00:25:55] Emily Price: The carousel ha- Oh ... was, um, got moved from- Okay

um, from Bloomsbury Park when it shut down to Pullen Park, and so I, I loved ... Like, I always knew that the carousel was special at Pullen Park- Yes ... and that it was older, but I didn't know The back, back history of it- Mm-hmm ... that it came from this theme park. Um, and so that was kinda neat too. And

[00:26:14] Melissa: I know the animals on the carousel are also very, very old, right?

[00:26:18] Emily Price: Yeah, I think that it's all original. Mm-hmm. I mean, like, clearly not all original. Like, I'm sure there's been some repairs that have happened in the past 100 years. Yeah,

[00:26:24] Melissa: mechanical repairs

[00:26:25] Emily Price: and stuff. Yeah. But, um, but yeah, I believe that it is in the, in the same spirit as it was originally at Bloomsbury Park, which is awesome, 'cause I mean, now you could go to Pullen Park and kind of experience a little old time,

[00:26:37] Melissa: Nostalgia

yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:38] Emily Price: An amusement park, yeah.

[00:26:40] Melissa: Um, Pull- well, Pullen is one of my very favorite places, uh, to go. I haven't been in a while. I drove by there, uh, not long ago, and, uh, the, the water's all emptied, so I've gotta figure out what they're doing to Pullen. Oh, Pullen? Yeah. Mm-hmm.

[00:26:52] Emily Price: That was, when I was going through, um, the Flickr that was mentioned earlier, like, y- there are all these pictures of people ice skating on that l- on that lake at Pullen Park- Yeah

which I was really surprised by. Like, I was, "Oh, I wanna ice skate at Pullen Park." Like- That

[00:27:04] Melissa: would be really fun ...

[00:27:04] Emily Price: but in the '50s, people used to do that all the time. Mm-hmm. And then before that it used to be a zoo, which I also didn't know .

[00:27:10] Melissa: Yes, and that's in the book too. Yeah. I did not know that part, that there was a s- a small zoo with, with real zoo animals at Pullen Park.

[00:27:19] Emily Price: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. They had, like, they had a tiger. They had a bear that b- um, ate a, like, c- bit off a girl's finger once.

[00:27:26] Melissa: Oh, nice.

[00:27:27] Emily Price: Um, when she was trying to feed it a peanut. They had-

[00:27:29] Melissa: Can't imagine why we don't have a, a

[00:27:31] Emily Price: zoo there anymore ... yeah, it's a surprise. Um, then there was, um, there was an alligator pit, which the alligator pit- Yes, I c-

is still there. Um-

[00:27:37] Melissa: I saw this picture of this alligator pit and thought, "No way."

[00:27:40] Emily Price: Yeah, it just looks like a awkward garden at this point- Yeah, yeah ... where you're like, "That's an interesting, like, design choice they made here." Mm-hmm. And it's because it was an alligator pit that they kind of filled in with flowers.

Because

[00:27:48] Melissa: it also bit somebody's finger off.

[00:27:50] Emily Price: Yeah, probably. Yeah. So, yeah, there was just, it... I think the, the prize possession there was a buffalo. Um, they had a buffalo named Jim, who was, like, who you, like, when you went to the zoo you were excited to see. Yeah. Um, like, 'cause a- and at that point in history, zoos were kind of where you went to see, like, spectacle, not really, um, it wasn't a pre- as preservation as it, as they are.

Yes. Like, they're more preservation now. Mm-hmm. Then it was like, "Look at this wild thing." Mm. Like, "Look at these, like, alligators." Mm-hmm. "And look at this," um, yeah. Buffalo

[00:28:17] Melissa: Yes In the middle of Raleigh A random Buffalo in, yeah, near downtown Raleigh. I'm wondering after reading this book if you plan on writing a book that maybe will expand to the rest of the state.

[00:28:28] Emily Price: I would love to. Um, we'll see if my publisher wants to let me do that. Mm-hmm. But I think, um, when I actually originally started talking to them I had wanted to do a North Carolina book as a whole, um, because there's some wild stories, um, in North Carolina that I had become aware of. And I've bec- it's made...

I've made it a personal mission recently to go to, like, the weird New Year's celebrations in North Carolina, 'cause we have so many of those. Like, those in and of themselves could be their own little book. Um...

[00:28:53] Melissa: Yeah, that would be a fascinating book to

[00:28:55] Emily Price: read. Yeah, you can do... Yeah, w- I've gone to see, I think two years ago I went to the Pickle in Mount Olive.

Highly recommend that. Yeah. Um, and then two years ago, or three years ago I went to Beaufort. They drop a pirate, they have him walk the plank. Yeah. Um, so yeah, there's so many, like, fun things. Um, so yeah, I would love to write a North Carolina book. Um, and so yeah, we'll see if somebody wants to publish it.

[00:29:14] Melissa: It's time for our What's Up Roundup where I ask a lightning round series of questions before we go. Okay. And this is when I'm gonna really try to stump you a little bit.

[00:29:21] Emily Price: Okay.

[00:29:21] Melissa: Especially since we've named so many, uh, stories from the book already. Mm-hmm. So let's see if you can think of some new ones.

[00:29:27] Emily Price: Okay.

[00:29:28] Melissa: What is the best area of Raleigh to wander, to see, you know, m- maybe multiple unique sites at once?

[00:29:38] Emily Price: I would ha- I would... That one is easy. Just I'd have to say downtown. Um, and that's only because it's the oldest. Mm-hmm. Like, that's... I mean, it wins by default. Um, and also because it's very walkable. Um, like- True

if I told you to go wander around North Raleigh, like, maybe a little more difficult proposition than walking around downtown. Mm-hmm. Um, but just because a lot of Raleigh's, like, street grid and things are ex- and some of the, a lot of the buildings are exactly the same as they've been- Mm-hmm ... since our beginnings, and so I think that that's a really good place to start.

Um, and especially even, like, Black Main Street is a great place to start because you can read a little bit more about it while you're walking down the street. Yeah, that's very true. Um, and then, yeah, there's so many things in downtown. Um, and, like, the capitol building, um, I think we didn't mention it, but they have, um, the stones that set the, um, latitude and longitude for Raleigh are just on the capitol grounds- Mm-hmm

sitting there. And so there's just, there's so much you can see in just, like, an afternoon walking around there.

[00:30:31] Melissa: What is your personal favorite Raleigh landmark?

[00:30:35] Emily Price: Out in like North, North, North Raleigh, there's this huge muffler man um, that I went, I went and looked for that guy like four different times.

[00:30:44] Melissa: Well, I think he's moved, hasn't he?

[00:30:46] Emily Price: He's moved so many times. Yeah. And there were a couple of them. And like any... I- Part of my research for this book was kind of asking, um, some older residents, you know, like what are your- Mm-hmm ... and like more than a dozen of them mentioned this muffler guy. Yeah. And I was like, "I have to find him."

Where is

[00:31:00] Melissa: he? Any true Raleigh native that has been here for more than 40 years knows the muffler man. Knows

[00:31:04] Emily Price: the muffler man. 'Cause

[00:31:05] Melissa: he's what? 22 feet tall.

[00:31:06] Emily Price: He is huge.

[00:31:07] Melissa: Yeah.

[00:31:08] Emily Price: Um, but yeah, he's out... Like, I'm, I'm in an... I'm not confident I should have been where I was when I went to- Oh. When I finally, when I finally found him.

'Cause it is, it's kind of down like some con- There's like... When I went, there... it seemed like more of like a construction-y area. Mm-hmm. Like, it's kind of out, uh, it's out there now. Mm-hmm. Um, but he's there. Um, and so I, like, I th- and I think that that's like a fun, like, iconic piece of- Yeah ... of Raleigh history.

If you've been, if you've been here 40, 50 years, like everybody knows the muffler guy. Yeah. Um, but then, yeah, I had been here, I guess that long and didn't quite know the muffler guy until I started talking to people, so.

[00:31:44] Melissa: I didn't know where, where he started, where he came from, but I, I certainly- He's made moves

have seen him. Yes, yes. Okay, and finally, fill in the blank. Every Raleigh resident should visit blank at least once.

[00:31:57] Emily Price: I'm gonna say like downtown, but like in like a broader sen- Like I think that like there's so many like great... Like, like Raleigh Times, for instance. Mm-hmm. Like r- Raleigh Times will be what I pick here. But yeah, just it's got a lot of history, but it's also got a lot of, uh, Raleigh today in it.

[00:32:13] Melissa: Yes.

[00:32:14] Emily Price: Yeah. Um, and so I think it's just a wonderful blend of both worlds to kind of get a picture. And yeah, Raleigh Times, I'm sure everybody... I presume a lot of people have already been there, but like there's a lot of pictures on the wall of like the- Mm ... o- of the way Raleigh used to be, but then you can also kind of experience Raleigh now at the same time.

And so I think that's a good like iconic Raleigh space. And I mean, like, like for Raleigh as the city, there's so many wonderful, wonderful- Yeah ... wonderful places to visit and wonderful things to do. Um, and yeah, like Mordecai House, like all, all that stuff is great, but,

[00:32:44] Melissa: and- And they're all in your book

[00:32:45] Emily Price: And they're all in my book.

[00:32:47] Melissa: Well, thank you so much. I, I love any opportunity that I get to talk about Raleigh, because I love Raleigh so much, so thank you for sharing all these stories with us today. Can you tell us where we can find Secret Raleigh?

[00:33:00] Emily Price: Yes. You can find it anywhere books are sold. Um, but no, primarily, um, I know it's on, um, it's on Amazon.

Um, my publisher is Reedy Press. You can buy it through there. Barnes & Noble, um, Quail Ridge Books, um, So & So Books. Um, I... Deco Downtown has a bunch. Oh, good. Yeah. I'm actually... I think this is gonna air after I do a signing. I'm doing a signing there this Friday. Um, yeah, lots, lots of smaller Raleigh re- retailers too.

Good. Yeah.

[00:33:29] Melissa: Yeah. Support local.

[00:33:30] Emily Price: Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:33:31] Melissa: Thank you so much for being here today, Emily.

[00:33:33] Emily Price: Yeah, thank you so much.