Exploring Wilmington
January 18, 2020
Exploring Wilmington with Belle, Thursday 1/16/20
Wilmington Convention Center – Nutt St
- Looks nice, but very limited resources or area information…
- Definitely worth further exploration, especially to identify cool places to hang out (as well as to learn places of historical significance. Wilmington was a major port city and a lot has happened there over the past couple hundred years).
- Refer to the “Official Guide Map”
- Request a free guide book at (or view it online )
- Official website has lots of visitor resources
Water St & Orange
- Site where runaway slave William Gould escaped
Kenan Memorial Fountain – Intersection of Market & 5th St
- no idea what its significance is, but would be nice to know…
Bellamy Mansion Museum of History & Design Arts – 503 N Market
- $12/adult, $10/with student ID. Probably a good place to go; you would need to plan on spending 2-3 hours there (or more) to get your money’s worth.
Gregory Congregational United Church of Christ – 609 Nun St
- historic African-American church. This is where the Wilmington 10 barricaded themselves during the riots in February 1971 that resulted from the fire-bombing at Mike’s Grocery.
Giblem Lodge – 720 Princess St
- historic building, dating back to 1870’s. Site of first Wilmington library open to African-Americans. Looks to be unused and/or vacant.
Thalian Hall Center for Performing Arts – 310 Chestnut St
- Beautiful exterior facing 3rd St. Probably a great venue for music, theater, dance, etc. Worth looking into…they offer tours!
Wilmington Daily Record – empty lot between the two dead-ends on 7th St
- Location of the African-American newspaper that was burned to the ground during the 1898 atrocities. Might be interesting to explore.
1898 Memorial and Park – 1081 N Third St
- we missed it, but it’s there. Definitely worth going back to and walking around.
This is the best resource for African-American history in Wilmington
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