Fayetteville Bus Tour

Fayetteville Bus Tour

Initially settled by Scots Highlanders in the mid-eighteenth century, Fayetteville was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette in 1783 and emerged as a primary trading center for the backcountry. By the 1810s and 1820s, the village’s wealth attracted commissions by architect William Nichols and engineer Ithiel Town, and traces of their contributions to our state’s architectural legacy remain today. The city’s Market House was built in 1832, and the city’s position linking Cape Fear riverboat trade to the Fayetteville & Western Plank Road to Bethania remained central to trade until supplanted by the Goldsboro to Charlotte NC Railroad in 1856. The establishment of Fort Bragg in 1918 began a new era of prosperity and challenges in the city. Today, Fayetteville is enjoying renewal and growth as a popular retirement location. 

Our tour will include visits to many of Fayetteville’s most important social architectural landmarks that span the eighteenth to mid-twentieth century, including notable residential, institutional, and religious properties.