1860s Wilmington

We left the dock in the morning to be sure to get to our destination in Wilmington in a timely manner.  John had to really focus the whole way to navigate through narrow channels, so he was a bit tired when we arrived in Wilmington, NC and Bennett Brothers Yachts, our departure point.  So what do you do when you’re tired, you clean! Haha, but he enjoys cleaning the boat, so it’s fine.  

We went into the town in the afternoon and marveled at the historic nature of Wilmington, the largest city in North Carolina during the late 1800s.  To get more a flavor of Wilmingtron history we took a tour of the Bellamy Mansion.  I think it was the first time I’ve toured a home with a slave home behind it. It’s so weird to think that people thought it was okay to ‘own’ other people.  The story of the mansion was cool because it was very ‘Gone with the Wind’ in that when the Yankee soldiers took over the town they used the mansion as their headquarters because Mr. Bellamy had been such a staunch Confederate. 

Surprisingly, a few years after the war the Bellamy’s were granted a presidential pardon and got their home back.  Following our tour, we walked the town and the Riverwalk and had dinner at George’s on the River.