WILMINGTON, NC

Rising From Neglect

We are seeing reminders and monuments to the Confederacy in almost every town we've visited. "Pro Aris Et Focis" translates roughly: "For God And Country". Though many years have passed since the War of Southern Independence (as it is occasionally still called here in the South), Wilmington has been perhaps the slowest to find value in its core downtown as a tourist draw. 

Buildings like this are more and more the rarity in Wilmington. Note that someone has attempted to dress this building up and rather than tear it down. Fifteen years ago Wilmington's riverfront downtown area offered little for tourists and no cruise boats stopped here. Today the city is still going through a renaissance. The city's historic district encompasses over 300 blocks. 

The riverfront is a vibrant collection of restaurants and shops. A riverwalk runs for almost a mile along the Cape Fear River. The town is home to the largest complex of movie and tv production facilities outside of Hollywood and boasts the biggest special effects water tank in the western hemisphere.

This is a small section of "Keys With A View". Artist Dixon Stetler began this project several years ago when she took fancy to a construction fence that rimmed a vacant downtown lot. 20,000+ keys later this is but a small section of what has turned out to be a pretty cool yet subtle artwork.

One of those, "I didn't know that", moments occurs when you come across this glass and metal sculpture in the riverfront area. It resembles a Venus Flytrap for good reason: this is the only place in the US where that plant actually grows naturally. Outside a 60 mile radius, it isn't found.

Something else that the City had was mansions. As we walked around the edge of the old town we found too many to count. 

With a restored city hall like this, it is easy to see why Wilmington has pride in its history.

Every city with river or ocean access seems to have a Navy ship, new or old. This is the USS North Carolina which entered service just before WW II. The paint scheme replicates the way some Navy ships were camouflaged during that period.