Looking for Raleigh’s giant copper acorn? The city moved it (again). Here’s why
Squirrels sometimes dig up nuts they’ve buried to stash them in better hiding places. The City of Raleigh has relocated its giant acorn — again — but to make it more visible.
“We wanted to showcase it a little better,” said city spokeswoman Julia Milstead.
The 10-foot-tall acorn was commissioned by the city in 1991, the same year it kicked off First Night Raleigh, a downtown New Year’s Eve celebration featuring live bands and a fireworks show. Each December, the city would bring the acorn to City Plaza, at the south end of Fayetteville Street, suspend it from a crane and lower it as the last seconds of the old year ticked away and the new year came in.
Like the ball in New York’s Times Square, but a-cornier.
Follow the acorn
When not on New Years Eve duty, the acorn perched on a base in Moore Square, a downtown park dating to Raleigh’s original layout, where it looked at home amid the giant trees that helped make sense of Raleigh’s nickname, “City of Oaks.”
In 2016, the city overhauled Moore Square and the acorn had to move to accommodate the work. After a bit of wrangling, the 1,250-pound steel-and-copper sculpture was repositioned to the grounds of what was then known as the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts on South Street, later renamed for the Martin Marietta company.
Milstead said the acorn was a popular photo destination for downtown visitors in both those locations, and some had taken it to rubbing it for good luck. But many people who come downtown don’t go as far as the performing arts center unless they have tickets for a show there, Milstead said, so planners decided to bring the acorn to them.
Where is Raleigh’s acorn now?
The acorn appeared in its new spot, on the east side of the 400 block of Fayetteville Street, on Wednesday. There, it will be closer to the crowds that come for music festivals, art fairs and other events through the year.
Raleigh sculptor David Benson, who crafted the acorn in 1991, didn’t know it was going to be moved, but when he learned it had, he drove to see it in its new home. He approved.
“It’s in downtown proper!” Benson texted after tracking it down. “I think it’s an upgrade.”
The acorn will be on move again come December, however. Each year the city takes it to Benson for polishing.
This story was originally published May 5, 2023 at 2:33 PM.
