History is a playground at Dix Park

The land sandwiched between Western Boulevard and Lake Wheeler road is one of the most talked about parcel of property in Raleigh. But few know the entire story.

The city of Raleigh offers a way to educate yourself on the history of the land, a walking tour of the Dorthea Dix Park. It's a 3.5 mile hike that will take you on a journey through centuries.

The Dix Hill property was once more than 2,000 acres. The property has been home to a plantation, a dairy farm, a hospital and now a park. But Kate Pearce knows it's so much more than that.

“It's also is a place where I think the city of oaks comes alive,” Pearce said.

Pearce works for the City of Raleigh, promoting the park and its programs. She knows a lot about the history.

“This was a plantation,” she said as she stood in front of one of the original plantation homes. “It was owned by the hunter family, which was one of Raleigh's founding families.”

As you would expect, more is know about the family who lived here than the people who did most of the work,

“This plantation did have about 65 enslaved people working here, and we see the plantation owners house but we are there we don't know where, for example, the slave quarters were,” Pearce said.

Theophilus Hunter lived in that plantation home. He's buried beside it in Wake County's oldest grave site.

Dix Hill Hospital came about in 1856, a place for mental health care. To this day, many refer to the ara as Dix Hill, although the hospital changed names over the years.

Dorthea Dix Park visitors are drawn to “The Big Field,” a place where you can often find people flying radio-controlled aircraft, walking their dogs or having a picnic. Pearce said the area had a much different role when the hospital was here.

“Historically, this was part of the dairy operation of the hospital for a long period of time, patients actually worked the farm and it was considered part of their therapy,” Pearce said.

The hills here hold stories of America's Civil war. Around 1,600 Union troops camped at the site. Pearce says that's where Raleigh almost went up in flames.

“John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln, April 17 1865, the troops that were camped here got word that Lincoln had been assassinated and started to march down Dix Hill with the intent of burning the state capitol down,” Pearce said.

A Union general stopped the march on Raleigh by turning his own guns on the troops.

There is a cemetery on Dix Hill as well. A place where patients who died at the hospital were buried from 1859 to 1970. But the lack of headstones shows how people felt about the having loved one in a state mental facility.

“There was still a lot of stigma around having a family member in a state institution,” Pearce said, “So families didn't want their family name associated with someone buried at a state hospital.”

Raleigh Parks and Recreation tries to hold the tours twice monthly. The event is free, but you do have to sign up.