Hull has a sister city, similar to a twin city, of Raleigh North Carolina, USA.This relationship was established in 1986.
Rayleigh's position in the USA.
Raleigh is also known as the 'City of Oaks' due to the number of oak trees in the city. It is the State Capital of North Carolina and is 142.8 sq.ml and in 2015 had a population of 451,066. The site was chosen in 1788 and is one of the few cities in the USA that was planned and built specifically as the state capital. The site was partly chosen as being a little in land from the coast so to protect it from attacks by sea and also as it wasn't too far from a tavern that the state legislators used from the old capital at New Bern! Raleigh was give the name as a reminder of Sir Walter Raleigh who sponsored an old colony on the coast at Roanoke. The City was officially established in 1792 and officially incorporated as a city in 1795.
The original State Capitol building burned down in 1831 and the replacement, that pictured above was completed in 1840
The Oakwood district of Raleigh has many building preserved from the 19th Century.
The crest of the NC State University showing the Memorial Bell Tower that was completed in 1937 to commemorate those Alumni that had been killed in WWI. There are 34 names recorded on the tower but in actual fact only 33 were lost. G.L. Jeffers was wrongly reported missing in action and his name was not taken off the list given to the manufacturers of the plaque. It was decided to change the name to G.E. Jefferson as a symbol of those unknown soldiers from the state and elsewhere who have no other memorial.
In the 1960's Raleigh became one of the fastest growing cities in the USA as the Research Triangle developed and new businesses were attracted to the area. The triangle revolves round the North Carolina State University in Raleigh, Duke University in close neighbour Durham and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This area covers over 2 million people. In the 2010's it was frequently quoted as one of the best places to live and do business in the US.
Downtown Raleigh.
The area is well served with cultural establishments with museums, theatres and symphony orchestra and ballet corps. They have a major league Ice Hockey team franchise in the city called the Carolina Hurricanes. Other professional teams are the NC State Wolfpack that have baseball, basket ball and American football teams. The larger baseball team is the Carolina Mudcats and the Carolina RailHawks are the professional soccer team. Since 2015 there is also a professional Ultimate Frisbee team called the Raleigh Flyers! I know there are amateur teams for Australian Rules Football and the university's play Rugby Union as I have been on tour there with Hull RUFC in the dim and dark past of the mid 1980's.
Raleigh frequently lies on the path of severe tornadoes and hurricanes when flooding and damage and occasional loss of life occurs. Otherwise they enjoy four season, a short cold winter with an average of 6" of snow but there has been over 20" of snow fall in one storm! April is the driest month of the year and July the wettest with the summer being hot and humid. Autumn is similar to spring but drier.
Raleigh is also 'twinned' with Xiangyand in China, Compiegne in France, Rostock in Germany and Nairobi in Kenya. I reckon Raleigh would make a great place to start an exploration of the area and I expect and hope that City of Culture will ensure closer ties are forged between us.
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