The Other Southern Sister
When built Battleship NC was called the greatest sea weapon in the world. | From Battleship NC Facebook
When Breeze Airways launches its new non-stop service from Fort Myers in February, the lesser-known youngest sister in the family of beloved Southern coastal cities will make her debut to many. Like her famous siblings, Charleston (est. 1670) and Savannah (est. 1733), Wilmington, North Carolina (est.1739) is a study in Federal and Neoclassical architecture, gracious inns, steeples and spires, and important forts and battlegrounds. She may even claim more centuries-old magnolia trees than either of them.
Wilmington has all the feels of her famous sisters with a casual vibe. She has miles of sea oat-covered dunes and white beaches, the Cape Fear River and tidal creeks rich in oysters, mussels and crabs, hundreds of acres of maritime forests, and colorful 50s-era beach towns are a traveler's and film producer's dream. And she also has the most fearsome battleship in World War II's Pacific Theater.
The 729-foot Battleship North Carolina, looming ten stories above the historic waterfront, participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific, earning 15 Battle Stars. One simply cannot stand on her gun deck dwarfed by massive16-inch guns without a jagged intake of breath. Tours and living history programs allow visitors deep into the life of the 2,000-plus crew.
While Charleston's Fort Sumter initiated the first naval battle of the Civil War, Wilmington's Fort Fisher was the site of the largest land-sea naval battle the world had ever seen. In December 1864, the fort held off 55 Union warships, but not the second assault by 58 more warships with 8,500 crew supported by 3,000 infantrymen. Soon after the fort fell, so did the Confederacy.
The Fort Fisher visitor center has impressive exhibits of seacoast guns and artifacts, plus reenactments, interpretive programs and a scenic trail to the remains of the Fort Fisher earthworks, including the ammunitions magazine and working tunnel system.
Sophisticated Spy
While Wilmington was under siege, Robert E. Lee sent blockade runners to bring in supplies. When the lightning-fast Condor slipped past the Union vessels on her maiden voyage, on board was Washington socialite-turned-spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow (aka "The Wild Rose of the Confederacy") carrying a fortune in gold sovereigns sewn into her petticoats. When the ship ran aground, she feared capture and execution and demanded to be rowed ashore. The rowboat capsized in rough seas and she drowned, weighted down by her billowing skirts and all that gold. The wreck of Condor, 75 yards offshore in shallow water, is open for snorkeling and diving. Rose lies in honor in Wilmington's Oakdale Cemetery. Historians say that this hauntingly beautiful cemetery with its Victorian-style funerary art beneath canopies of live oaks was so desirable when built in 1855 that notable families had their dearly departed removed from less prestigious burial grounds and reinterred there.
Venus Flytraps and Battleship NC face off on the Historic Waterfront. | Photo: Wilmingtonandbeaches.com
Venus Flytrap
Botanists, artists and fans of the movie Little Shop of Horrors are lured to Carolina Beach State Park by one of the world's few natural habitats of the Venus flytrap. Platforms over the bogs along the Flytrap Trail enable close-up viewing of the tiny spiky-jawed carnivores. Other carnivorous plants, like that lean, mean, red-veined bug-eating machine, the green pitcher plant, are in full splendor in winter.
Left: Chef Keith Rhodes' scallops and mussels in a coconut curry broth at Catch | Courtesy photo
Middle: A spire atop First Baptist Church overlooks the Bellamy Mansion | Photo by Karen T. Bartlett
Right: Oysters Rockefeller at Elijah's Oysters and Fish Camp | Photo by Karen T. Bartlett
Bellamy Mansion Museum
Beyond the lyrical beauty of this antebellum mansion and its gardens are both horrifying and uplifting human stories. The biographies of its enslaved men, women and children were extensively researched and honored in historically balanced exhibits within the stucco Negro House. Exhibits also recount the dark history of white supremacy clubs and the Wilmington Massacre of 1898, influenced by the Bellamy family patriarch.
Immersion by Tastebud
One cannot know Wilmington without knowing her food. Which naturally requires extensive research. The two of us begin our quest with Taste Carolina's 3½ -hour rain-or-shine walking tour. Our date with hostess Amanda and five other guests happens to draw the rain card. A chilly wind is blowing our umbrellas inside out and the sky is battleship gray. Somehow, though, scooting along on mostly deserted streets, tucking into cozy, locally owned eateries amplifies our tastebuds and enhances the camaraderie, making one of our best memories. tastecarolina.net.
Our week is a blur of Carolina Coastal cuisine and libation... potato pancakes and artisanal beers at Prost... Big Cats Black Cadillac margaritas at Savorez... shrimp & grits at Pilot House. At Cape Fear Boil we pick up our curated steam bucket-to-go, brimming with local clams, crab, mussels and Andouille sausage, plus potatoes, corn, Vidalia onions and seasonings—stovetop-ready to boil and share.
For our finale, we indulge in exquisitely nuanced presentations at Catch by the owner/chef, two-time James Beard semifinalist Keith Rhodes.
And strictly for continuing education purposes, we bring home one of Wilmington's famous chocolate Cape Fear Rum Cakes. Well, maybe two.
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