Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour Visits Raleigh, NC
March 2, 2025 @ 2:00 pm–4:00 pm
The Marquis de Lafayette Comes again to Raleigh, NC
Location NC Capital Building, Raleigh, NC, 1 E Edenton St, Raleigh, NC 27601
Time 2:00 pm, March 2, 2025
Please attend and help us welcome the Marquis de Lafayette back to Raleigh after 200 years. In 1823 US President Monroe with a resolution from Congress invited Lafayette to visit the US as a “Guest of the Nation”. During his thirteen-month twenty-four state tour, Lafayette visited Raleigh, NC on March 2nd, 1825.
He was welcomed on the Oxford Road at the bridge over Crabtree Creek with canon fire and the NC Militia. He was taken to the Capital building where he viewed the life-size marble statue of George Washington as a Roman General. The Statue was created by Antonio Canova. It was commissioned by the State of North Carolina in 1815, it was completed in 1820, and installed in the rotunda of the North Carolina State House on December 24, 1821. Raleigh was immensely proud of this new statue. The Image is of a woodcut of Lafayette viewing the statue in the rotunda.
Lafayette will be welcomed by State officials and with a speech by an interpreter of Lafayette’s battlefield compatriot, Col William Polk. There will be educational presentations.
Open to the public. A donation is recommended.