North Carolina Executive Mansion to Host Garden Open House | Eastern NC Now

News Release:

    Raleigh, NC     North Carolina's executive mansion will welcome visitors to take in the gardens at the annual Garden Open House. The grounds will be open for self-guided tours Saturday, April 12 from noon-3 p.m.

    "Pat and I are honored to live in such an exquisite historic home," First Lady Ann McCrory said. "We welcome everyone who can make the trip, to come over and take in the beauty of the gardens. Bring your family and friends to celebrate spring in North Carolina."

    Garden docents will be stationed throughout the property to share their knowledge and answer questions about the grounds and sustainable gardening practices. Head groundskeeper Gerald Adams will greet guests in the vegetable garden. Reservations are not needed or accepted.
Spring tulips along Blount Street with the executive mansion in the background: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage    Click image to expand.
    Although the present executive mansion has been in existence since 1891, the gardens as you see them were not begun until nearly 100 years later. Despite their relatively young age, the mansion gardens are remarkably full of colorful perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs and annuals combined in interesting ways. Visitors to the garden delight in seeing both native and exotic plant species, a koi pond, bee hives and a large vegetable garden that provides produce for the first family and local families in need through donations to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle "Plant a Row for the Hungry" Campaign.

    Home to North Carolina governors since 1891, the Victorian-style mansion was built with native materials and was once described by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as having "the most beautiful governor's residence interior in America."

    The executive mansion is located at 200 North Blount St., Raleigh, NC 27601. Governor McCrory is the 29th governor to live in the mansion. He is the 74th governor of North Carolina since statehood.

    The executive mansion docent program is administered by the Department of Cultural Resources. For more information, please call Terra Schramm at (919) 715-3962.


    Contact: Crystal Feldman
       govpress@nc.gov