Wilmington City, North Carolina

Wilmington is a city of New Hanover County, North Carolina named in honor of a British Whig statesmen and prime minister of Great Britain, Spencer Compton, and first Earl of Wilmington. The city was hailed as one of 2013’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, with city’s historic downtown, as well as it’s one mile long River Walk, Cape Fear River, and Wrightsville Beach, serve as highlighted tourist attractions. The city was also designated by the Congress as the “Coast Guard City” in 2003.

The city is known as hometowns for some personalities of various fields which include basketball player Michael Jordan, journalists David Brinkley, Charles Kuralt, and Robert Ruark, football player Sonny Jurgensen, One Tree Hill’s actress Hilarie Bunton and baseball player Trot Nixon. The city has also been a famous shooting location for films: Blue Velvet, 28 Days, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Empire Records, Cape Fear, Black Night and The Crow, and television shows: One Tree Hill, Matlock and Dawson’s Creek. Current demographics states that Wilmington City has approximately 76,000 people with the majority of the racial make-up, Whites and African Americans, constituting 70.6% and 25.8% of the population, respectively. The remaining portions go to Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Hispanic and other races.

At one point, Wilmington has been the second fastest-growing city in the country, next to Las Vegas, as its businesses had experienced staggering growth in the 1990s. Among the city’s top employers are the following: New Hanover Regional Medical Center, New Hanover County Schools, Verizon Wireless, UNC Wilmington, General Electric and Corning Incorporated. Wilmington is also an advocate of the performing arts, with events filling up the calendars of its theaters. One good example is the Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts which hosts more than 250 events in a year. This theater which was opened in 1858 houses three performance venues: the Main Stage, the Grand Ballroom and the Studio Theater. Other important venues for the performing arts include the Departments of Theater, Music, and Art in the Wilmington College of Arts and Science at the University of North Carolina (established in 2006) and the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra (established in 1971). The city also hosts the following music festivals: the Wilmington Exchange Festival, the North Carolina Jazz Festival, and the Cape Fear Blues Festivals. Don’t forget to visit any of the following attractions in Wilmington: Airlie Gardens, The Children’s Museum of Wilmington, North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, Sunset Park Historic District, Latimer House Museum and Wilmington Railroad Museum.