Seen here in a postcard from the 1930s, The Sir Walter Hotel on Fayetteville Street was home to the Kitty Hawk Tavern, reportedly a popular meet-up spot for gay men during the 1940s and 1950s.
In a new draft report done by Raleigh’s Historical Preservation department, a chronological story of the landmarks that shaped the city’s LGBTQ+ community has begun to form, but still has multiple gaps of time yet to be filled.
Starting off as a survey in 2022, the Historical Preservation department’s goal was to get a better idea of where the queer community had gathered through the decades. The project is currently in its second phase, tracing events, previous locales and news related to the chronicling endeavor from the 1870s up to the present day.
The process itself, along with gathering old news stories, has been locating oral histories about those time frames. In doing so, the Historical Preservation department has discovered a slew of landmarks that have since been demolished or converted into something else entirely. This list is said to include the Kitty Hawk Tavern in the Sir Walter Hotel on Fayetteville Street, which was reportedly a popular meet-up spot for gay men during the 1940s and 1950s.
The biggest issue the team heading the project has said they’ve run into does take place around those timelines; finding a full presentation of Raleigh’s LGBTQ+ history during the decades before the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, where many feel all modern-day gay and trans rights movements hail from.
“It’s been extremely challenging, because when that history is not written down and kind of purposefully secretive, needing to be secretive at the time,” expressed Erin Morton Pugh, a senior preservation planner with the city. “It can be hard to find it when people aren’t around to tell you about it.”
Along with details about the Kitty Hawk Tavern, the new report also includes information on early drag performances, such as word about a drag ball held by the Black Community, and organizations like the Triangle Gay Alliance, founded in 1971.
The new report is available to read online, something that Pugh encourages as the report is open for public comments till Sunday, October 27. Feedback is encouraged, as every little bit helps fill in the gaps of an otherwise hidden history.
“Every calendar day when the page turns, there’s a new day of history that could potentially be documented,” Pugh said. “So, there’s a ton to do, but I’m proud of this work, and hopefully it helps somebody get information that they’re looking for.”