Home for the Holidays, by Thomas Kincaid

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Outdoor Wednesday - Historic Wilmington

Come on a tour with me through wonderful, historic, downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, one of our day trips from our recent vacation...
These horse-drawn carriage tours of wonderful, but we opted for a less expensive bus tour...

Wilmington, North Carolina is settled on the banks of the Cape Fear River, not far from the coast.
The Cape Fear River Bridge, view from the River Walk...
The Historic downtown is quaint and picturesque. The history of this town dates to before the Revolutionary War (One of the old homes served as headquarters for the british General Cornwallis who was in charge of England's army that fought in the South).

Here is a downtown cafe, seen from the River Walk.
Quaint brick streets run throughout the District...When one of these needs repairing local leadership, in attempt to cut costs by paving over the old bricks...But devotees to the old bricks come out in the middle of the night and chip away the tar until the brick is exposed again - ha, what a hoot!
Don't you love it?
I wasn't able to take many pictures during the bus tour, because the dang thing didn't slow down long enough for me to get off many shots (again, I recommend the horse-drawn carriage).- However, here is the front of St. Mary's Catholic Church, built in 1832. I use to go hear to pray when I was 14-15 years of age. I went with a Catholic girlfriend and I would pray to know God's truths...I was very religious-minded in my youth.
Most of the homes in the Historic District have plaques outside, as you see in the above picture. These plaques tell the date of the buildings and any colorful history associated with the site.

More scenes from the River Walk... The Battleship North Carolina which served our country during WWII. It is open for touring...
My family resided in Wilmington when I was 14-15 years old. My father, a Coast Guard officer, was Captain of the Port of Wilmington during those years..
There is still a Coast Guard station in Wilmington...
Smaller Coast Guard cutters of docked there now.

I have a soft spot in my heart for tugboats, because my father was once a tugboat captain.

I loved living in Wilmington. We were very near our relatives and it is where my parents first lived when they were married. It is where my older brother, David, is buried (he died as an infant).

Well, I have to conclude my tour here. I wish I had more pictures of the buildings. So, you will just have to go there yourselves and see it up close and personal!

Have a great day and check out other posts at A Southern Daydreamer.

15 comments:

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Elizabeth, thank you so much for sharing Willmington with us. This was such a fun tour. I loved the story about the bricks. LOL! And seeing the archicture and the historic church. So neat. And I love tug boats! How great that your dad was the captain of one! Enjoyed it all!

Happy OW...

XO,

Sheila :-)

Country Wings in Phoenix said...

Oh Elizabeth, I love history lessons. They are also so great. Love the brick (cobblestone looking) streets. The blue resturaunt was gorgeous, and I loved looking at the battleships. Thanks so much for sharing. Great post. I have signed up to follow you. I would like to come back and continue reading. Please stop by and say hi. I would love for you to sign up as well. Country Hugs, Sherry

Becky K. said...

Very nice tour.
The story about the bricks cracked me up. I guess those individuals were passionate about the history of their neighborhood.

Have a great day!
Becky K.
Hospitality Lane

Regina said...

Thanks for the tour and sharing.
Nice place. Happy outdoor.
Regina

Barb said...

Hi Elizabeth, your pictures are wonderful. Love that bridge!

Happy Outdoor Wednesday.

Barb

Mary Bergfeld said...

What a wonderful post. I loved the cyber tour. The pictures and the history lesson were great. Thanks for sharing with us. Have a wonderful day.

Lori E said...

I always love looking at the historic houses. I do genealogy research and always think of who lived in these grand old homes.

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Thanks for the tour - never been there.
Glenda

Alexandra said...

Nice tour! I also enjoyed the D.C. one. I was born there, but never did the Ducks tour! I'll have to try this next time we go to visit.

I've always liked the Coast Guard. Of all the armed forces, this one is my favorite.

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Hi there, Elizabeth! :-)

The shrimp plants are transplants to the States from Mexico. They are best suited to warm climates. Apparently, they don't like cold. And once they get established, they grow like crazy! :-)

The yellow ones (which I don't have pics of) are a very pretty color.

XO,

Sheila :-)

Anne said...

I like the brick roads, too. What have you been up to since you got home?

Alexandra said...

Elizabeth, I googled that problem...I did a few things on my end, but you might want to see what Google has to say about the problem. Apparently, it's a Blogger issue. Thanks for letting me know! :) let me know if the problem is gone when you visit.

Simply Debbie said...

Happy Outdoor Wednesday Elizabeth,
wonderful post...thank you for taking us along with you.
My name is Debbie. I am the mother of Amy that has cancer...you saw her picture on my sisters' Sherry's Blog...Country Wings In Phoenix.......I have enjoyed reading your blog so much from the Outdoor Wednesdays to recipes to health issues. I am sorry one of you're kidneys is destroyed. You will be in my prayers
Your daughter is very beautiful as wellas your son is handsome.
I hope you will come and see me and join up as a follower.
angel hugs
debbie

SmilingSally said...

I loved going along on your tour, and you're right to avoid those pricey horse and carriage tours. Happy Outdoor Wednesday.

Country Wings in Phoenix said...

Hi Elizabeth! Thanks so much for stopping by. I am glad you like my hat. Being the fair person that I am, and having spent so many years in the sun as a child, I have to be careful as I have had several places removed from my face for skin cancer. Now I am careful. I am so glad you are enjoying my blog. I so love posting on it. I work full time so I can't put the time into it that I wish I could. I work Mon-Fri from 5:30am - 3pm. This means that I get up at 3:45 and don't get back home until almost 4:30pm by the time I pick my husband up at the bus stop. Long days for me.

You asked about my backgroud on my blog. It is just code. You can get the backgrounds at a company called shabbyblogs.com. There is no charge. You just find the one that you want to use and ofcourse you add the code into an HTML gadget. You can also write your own code if you are savvy. I am on a computer all day at work, so I do not want to write code when I come home. I love their templates and backgrounds and buttons, and they are free. You just have to put up with having their logo on your stuff, which I don't mind at all.

When you asked me if I knew of Broken Arrow boy did I burst out. Broken Arrow is where my sister and husband and kids lived when Amy got cancer at 10. She has it now for the 4th time. This is a serious cancer that she has. Tuesday the 21st she will be having a procedure done that will determine whether or not she can have the surgery that she needs to survive. She has to get through this procedure without having a stroke, she will be hospitalized for 4 days to watch her, as that is the time period that she can stroke after this procedure. After the time period is up, they will discuss the surgery. She will have her carotid artery removed, where the cancer is this time. God has been wonderful as he did heal one large mass that is gone. We just have to get over this large hurdle. Your prayers for Amy are greatly appreciated, as we need as many as we can get. I will keep you posted. Country Hugs, Sherry