Mordecai Historic Park

Parking is available at the park's 1 Mimosa Street address, with additional street parking along Cedar Street and Mordecai Drive. Accessible spaces are available in the Mimosa Street lot and beside the Visitor Center at 1101 Wake Forest Road. Orange signs guide the short walk from the Mimosa lot to the Visitor Center.

Begin at the Visitor Center at 1101 Wake Forest Road, on the corner of Wake Forest Road and Cedar Street. This is where visitors buy guided-tour tickets, pick up a free self-guided grounds map, find exhibits, restrooms, the gift shop, and current tour information. The park's mailing and navigation address is 1 Mimosa Street.

Outdoor comfort stations are in the red buildings on the Cedar Street side. Indoor restrooms and a water fountain are in the Visitor Center. The City lists these facilities as open Tuesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday 1-4 p.m., even though the Visitor Center's published public hours begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

The outdoor park grounds are open dawn to dusk daily. The Visitor Center and regular tour operation are open Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday 1-4 p.m.; Monday is closed. Tours, restrooms, programs, rentals, and trolley service have narrower schedules than the grounds.

Walking the grounds, viewing building exteriors, using a self-guided map, and visiting the Visitor Center's permanent and rotating exhibits are free. Guided building tours currently cost $8 for adults and $5 for youth; children age six and under are free. Trolley rides, private tours, programs, and rentals are separate.

Accessible spaces are available in the Mimosa Street lot and next to the Visitor Center. Ramps serve the Visitor Center, its restrooms, and the first floor of Mordecai House. Other historic buildings and some program areas have uneven surfaces or steps; guides provide outdoor interpretation and interior photographs when a room cannot be entered.

One-hour guided tours leave the Visitor Center at the top of the hour, beginning at 10 a.m.; the last tour leaves at 3 p.m. Public tours are not offered while school groups are onsite, so call 919-996-4364 before making a special trip. Groups of ten or more may request a private tour.

Yes. Building exteriors and park grounds are available for self-guided visits whenever the park is open, and the Visitor Center supplies a map during its operating hours. Historic building interiors may only be entered on a guided tour, so a self-guided visit is an outdoor and exterior experience.

The campus includes Mordecai House, a smokehouse, plantation office, Allen Kitchen, Andrew Johnson Birthplace, Federal Building, Badger-Iredell Law Office, St. Mark's Chapel, and Bouchall-Danielson House. Several structures were moved to the park, while Mordecai House is Raleigh's oldest house still standing in its original location.

Yes. The City identifies the property as the former site of Wake County's largest plantation and describes the Lane and Mordecai families alongside the enslaved and freed African Americans who lived and worked there from 1785 into the 1960s. Guided interpretation, exhibits, artifacts, and digital resources provide the fullest context.

Yes. The small Andrew Johnson Birthplace building is one of the historic structures preserved on the campus. It was moved from its original downtown location, so visitors should understand it as a relocated historic building rather than the original surrounding site. Interior access follows guided-tour rules.

The recreated Ellen Mordecai Garden interprets an 1830s kitchen garden using documentation from Ellen Mordecai's memoir and letters. It is part of the outdoor historic landscape and can be viewed on a self-guided grounds visit; planting appearance varies by season and maintenance cycle.

Yes. Historic Raleigh Trolley tours begin and end at Mordecai Historic Park, but they are a separate experience with separate tickets and a seasonal schedule. The general season runs on selected Saturdays from March through December; check the current trolley page before traveling because times, themes, capacity, and special tours change.

Allow about one hour for the guided tour itself. Add time before departure to park, walk to the Visitor Center, buy tickets, and use the restroom, plus additional time for exhibits, the garden, and exterior exploration. A free grounds-only visit can be shorter and flexible, but it will not include historic interiors.