Built in 1769, the Joel Lane House is the oldest dwelling in Wake County and a rare surviving link to the creation of both Wake County and Raleigh. Joel Lane settled here in the late 1760s, helped secure Wake County’s formation in 1770, and likely hosted its first court in 1771. During the Revolutionary era and early statehood, his home hosted the Council of Safety and a session of the state General Assembly. In 1792, the legislature bought 1,000 acres of Lane’s land to establish the new capital. Preserved as a museum, the house and grounds reflect 18th-century life and Raleigh’s colonial-to-state beginnings.