General Note for Unavailable Tour Days in April & May 2025 Read More
May 2025 - Dates with no public tours:
Friday, May 16th - No public tour at 10am
June 2025 - All days are currently open
History: The Buildings
This page is under construction - please pardon our mess.
“Buildings are three-dimensional history books which reflect the comings and goings, successes and failures of real people.” - Mills Lane, Architecture of the Old South: North Carolina
The Kitchen
The building called the Kitchen was not originally on Joel Lane’s plantation in the 18th century. Built about 1790, it was located on the Ray farm in northern Wake County and was moved to its current site in 1979. It was actually a…
Visitors Center
The Visitors Center houses the gift shop and offices. Built about 1840, it was an addition to the side of Joel Lane’s home. When his house was moved from Boylan Street to its current location on West Hargett Street in 1914, the new lot…
The Lane House
Joel Lane built his home in 1769. In 1970, the State of NC Department of Archives and History certified that “the Joel Lane House has been entered on the National Register of Historic Places.” CONFIGURATION Originally, the front…
List of Owners of the Joel Lane House
Many visitors want to know what happened to Joel Lane’s house after his death. Here’s a time line:ca. 1770 Col. Joel Lane built the house and around 1793 changed the original gable roof line to gambrel, enlarging the upstairs…