page_title: Briggs Hardware Building
section_title: The legend
hierarchical_section_title: Briggs Hardware Building / The legend
caption_attribution_description: Briggs Hardware Building
context_page_description: The Briggs Hardware Building is a four-story historic building in downtown Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. It was built in 1874 by Thomas Briggs to house his family-owned hardware store. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
  Currently the building is home to the City of Raleigh Museum, and is owned by a joint group of non-governmental organizations.
context_section_description: Soon after the building was completed, a legend circulated about how Thomas Briggs was able to afford to build such a large and elaborate building following the Civil War.  The legend claimed that sometime prior to the Union occupation of Raleigh in 1865, Briggs converted all of his Confederate money into gold and silver coins.  He then took the coins, stuffed them into pipes, found a distinctive grove of trees, and buried the money to prevent Union soldiers from stealing the money.  When the soldiers arrived in Raleigh they set up camp near the grove of trees and cut them down.  After the troops left, Briggs allegedly spent the next few years searching for his money.  When he finally found the coins, he used the money to build his new hardware store.
caption: Historic view of Briggs Hardware Building
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