FEATURE STORY

Wilmington: One of the Carolinas Best-Kept Secrets

By Shane Sharp,
Contributing Writer

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Charlotte has the big banks, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill has the prestigous universities, and Wilmington has the history. Unlike its larger cousins, Wilmington exudes a sense of time and place. Anchored by its 200-block historic district, this bustling river city of over 100,000 residents has one of the most vibrant downtowns in the state, and one of the strongest tourist industries in the southeast.

Historic buildings house restaurants, shops, pubs, and museums. A walking tour of the city reveals such historical landmarks as the Burgwin-Wright House, Lord Cornwallis’s temporary headquarters during the final days of the Revolutionary War; the Belamy Mansion, the Thalian Hall Theater and street after street of Live Oaks laden Victorian homes.

Before Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro emerged as major urban hubs, Wilmington was North Carolina’s largest and most productive burg. In fact, until the early 1900’s Wilmington was by far and away the largest city in the state.

Today, Wilmington is one of the Carolinas best-kept secrets. With its small town feel and remote location, Wilmington offers visitors all the history and charms of Charleston and Savannah without the congestion and crowds.

Of rice and the War Between the States

Like so many coastal regions in the southeast, Wilmington’s history is intrinsically tied to the Civil War and the south’s Antebellum rice plantations.

In comparison to other river towns in the U.S., Wilmington’s emergence as a major cultural and commercial hub was sluggish and deliberate.

Europeans first sailed up the Cape Fear River in 1524, and historical records indicate that the early explorers were enamored with the area’s fair climate, nautical access, and fertile countryside.

Several attempts to settle in the area failed, and what is now Wilmington remained Indian territory for nearly another 200 years. In the early 1700’s, the Waccamaw Indians and other native peoples fled in the face of the Tuscarora War.

With the “hostile” native resistence removed, the white settlers were finally able to establish a permanent settlement. Like Charleston and Savannah before it, wealthy rice planters descended upon the low-lying lagoons and lakes of the Cape Fear River Basin, and the population of the region began in earnest.

In 1725, a cadre of wealthy rice farmers founded Brunswick Town near the mouth of the river, but the threat of hurricanes and constant bombardment by Spanish pirates forced the planters to relocate the settlement further up the river at the site of today’s Wilmington.

By 1860, Wilmington had emerged as North Carolina’s largest city, and the hub of the state’s largest slave market. With the onset of the Civil War, Wilmington’s safe harbor also made it one of the most important port cities in the south.

The entrance to the river was fortified with six forts, and the Frying Pan Shoals, a series of coastal sandbars, forced Union ships to patrol nearly 50 miles offshore. Confederate blockade runners took advantage of the Federal Navy’s loosely knit barricades and slipped into the city’s port by night with food, supplies, parasols, hoopskirts, silks and calicos.

As of 1864, Wilmington was the only Southern port to withstand Union attacks and remain a Confederate stronghold. Finally, in 1865, the Union army captured Fort Fisher in the largest land-sea battle ever fought in the U.S. Wilmington mayor John Dawson surrendered the city on February 22, 1865, but Federal soldiers burned over 60 plantations.

As the south transitioned from an agrarian society to an industrial based economy with roots in the textile and tobacco industries, Wilmington gave way to the inland Piedmont cities and relinquished its role as the state’s primary urban area.1

A new day, a new role

Wilmington, to this day, remains a major international port. You are just as likely to see behemoth container ships cruising down the river as you are recreational boats, and giant loading cranes dominates the city’s abbreviated skyline.

However, it is tourism that has emerged as the city’s economic mainstay. Most of Wilmington’s downtown was spared torching by the Union soldiers, and hundreds of structures were retained via an aggressive historic preservation program.

When visitors get their fill of history in Wilmington’s charming downtown, the region’s white sandy beaches are just a 20-minute drive to the east. New Hanover County is home to nearly 100 public access points along its shoreline, and the beaches are some of the largest in the Carolinas.

Just minutes south of downtown is the scenic area of Southport. Ferries leave on the hour from the Southport marina for Bald Head Island. The Bald Head Island Resort is one of the most underrated, undersold destinations in the southeast, is found on the southern end of the island.

Wilmington “Must-See Capsules”

Chandler’s Wharf – a two block, restored ship chandlers’ district on Water Street replete with shops and restaurants serving lower Cape Fear cuisine. The ports facility upriver from the Wharf links Wilmington to over 200 ports worldwide.

Airlie Gardens -- sixty-seven acres of Victorian, European style gardens built in and around the coasts native vegetation. Airlie Gardens are off Airlie Road, two miles west of Wrightsville Beach.

Cotton Exchange -- Located right on the riverfront, this historic building houses over 30 specialty shops and restaurants, and is a favorite among tourists and locals.

Cape Fear Museum -- the best stop for a comprehensive overview of the region’s history. Take in the museum’s exhibits and collection of Civil War artifacts and memorabilia from the Blockade Runners Museum. Located just off Market Street.

Thalian Hall -- In its hay-day, witnessed performances by Lillian Russell, Oscar Wilde, and Buffalo Bill Cody. These days you can take in some jazz, plays, and musicals.

Poplar Grove Plantation -- a plantation home complete with costumed hosts that take visitors around the circa 1850 plantation’s main house, tenant house, kitchen, smoke house, herb cellar and gardens. Located north of Wilmington off U.S. Highway 17.

1 “North Carolina,” Shelia Turnage, 1998.

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