Making History

June 2022

Reaves Chapel Restoration

• June 2, 2022 Coastal Review: Navassa’s historic Reaves Chapel steeple restored

April 2022

Azalea Festival Home Tour 

• April 1, 2022 StarNews: As Wilmington’s Azalea Festival returns to spring, what’s back, what’s new and what’s out?

• April 4, 2022 Port City Daily: 9 ways to enjoy the 75th N.C. Azalea Festival

• April 7, 2022 WWAY: Azalea Festival Home Tour to feature an eclectic mix of historic homes and churches

• April 9, 2022 WWAY: Ribbon cutting held to kick off Wilmington Azalea Festival Historic Foundation Home Tour

Point Peter Proposed Development

• April 1, 2022 Port City Daily: NHC extends talks of west bank vision, developers say they were silenced

• April 13, 2022 WilmingtonBiz Talk: WilmingtonBiz Talk: Battleship Point Reaction

March 2022

Azalea Festival Home Tour

• March 25, 2022 WECT: HWF to hold Azalea Festival Home Tour ribbon cutting on April 9

Point Peter Proposed Development

• March 24, 2022 Greater Wilmington Business Journal: The View Across the Way

• March 27, 2022 Port City Daily: Explainer: What to Know About Battleship Point

• March 31, 2022 WWAY: Environmental concerns lead conversation for New Hanover commissioners at Point Peter work session

New Hanover High School Unveils Historic Plaque

• March 9, 2022 WWAY: Historic plaques unveiled at New Hanover High centennial celebration

Nominations are Open for 2022 Preservation Awards

• March 15, 2022 WWAY: Historic Wilmington foundation opens 2022 Preservation Awards nominations

February 2022

Saving Wilmington’s Black Historic Sites

• February 27, 2022 StarNews: Dozens of Wilmington’s Black historic sites have been demolished 

Proposed Traffic Lights on South 3rd Street

• February 15, 2022 StarNews: Could South Third Street be getting more traffic lights? 

Point Peter Proposed Development

• February 16, 2022 Port City Daily: Frank Pasquale resigns, replaced on Battleship Point team 

• February 21, 2022 WWAY: Leland to consider annexing land near Battleship caught in development controversy 

January 2022

Coalition Opposes Text Amendment to Develop Point Peter

• January 5, 2022 StarNews: Wilmington groups gather to oppose west bank development ahead of county decision

• January 5, 2022 Greater Wilmington Business Journal: Coalition Comes Out Against Large Development Across From Downtown

• January 5, 2022 WWAY: Wilmington groups gather to oppose west bank development ahead of county decision

• January 7, 2022 Coastal Review: Groups: New Hanover development request ‘sheer folly’

• January 10, 2022 WWAY: Groups: Commissioners table discussion on development of west bank of Cape Fear River

• January 10, 2022 StarNews: New Hanover leaders delay action on west bank development request

December 2021

First Steps Underway to Restore Giblem Lodge

• December 16, 2021 Port City Daily: First steps underway to restore Giblem Lodge, Wilmington’s time capsule of Black resilience

Work Begins to Restore Reaves Chapel

• December 15, 2021 Coastal Review: Work begins to restore historic African American church

• December 17, 2021 WWAY: Restoration underway on historic African-American church in Navassa

• December 25, 2021 Port City Daily: Previously at risk, one of the last standing pieces of Brunswick County’s Gullah Geechee culture will be saved

November 2021

Cape Fear Unearthed podcast: Legacy Architectural Salvage

• November 26, 2021 Star News: Cape Fear Unearthed podcast looks at contributions of Legacy Architectural Salvage

City of Wilmington’s Resolution to Pursue Stay-of-Demolition at State Level

• November 1, 2021 WECT: A proposed resolution could help save historic buildings in Wilmington

• November 4, 2021 WWAY: Wilmington leaders approve stay-of-demolition resolution

October 2021

Legacy Architectural Salvage’s Deconstruction Missions

• October 1, 2021 Port City Daily: Saving the pieces: Legacy serves as last-ditch historic preservation option, gives historic finds new life

Elizabeth Wright, Founding Member of HWF, Passes Away

• October 4, 2021 WECT: Historic Wilmington Foundation founder dies

• October 5, 2021 WWAY: Founding member of Historic Wilmington Foundation dies

September 2021

three10 Restaurant Set to Open Soon

• September 7, 2021 Port City Daily: Saved from demolition: Historic home becomes restaurant Three 10, to open in Brooklyn Arts District next month

Project Grace Updates

• September 3, 2021 Greater Wilmington Business Journal: Downtown Block’s Transformation Proceeds

• September 27, 2021 Greater Wilmington Business Journal: Sound Off: History Under Siege (Op-Ed)

August 2021

Shandy Hall Threatened by Demolition

• August 28, 2021 Port City Daily: 19th century sound home to be demolished and replaced, neighbors decry plan as ‘sacrilegious’

Historic Tax Credit Growth & Opportunity Act (HTC-GO)

• August 26, 2021 WHQR: Preservationists hope bi-partisan bill in Congress can save more Wilmington-area historic buildings

Run Through History 5k & 1-Mile Walk

• August 14, 2021 StarNews: Run Through History: Preserving, protecting Wilmington’s irreplaceable

• August 16, 2021 WECT: Run Through History: Run, but don’t go too fast, during Historic Wilmington Foundation’s weekend run

Project Grace

• August 4, 2021 WWAY: Local residents express concerns surrounding Project Grace

• August 5, 2021 Port City Daily: Project Grace: Docs reveal analysis of new library and museum in redevelopment plan

• August 6, 2021 StarNews: New Hanover group pushes back against Project Grace to ‘save our main library’ 

July 2021

Maides Cemetery Clean-Up

• July 17, 2021 WWAY: Volunteers attempting to bring a historic cemetery back to life

June 2021

Maides Cemetery Clean-Up

• June 1, 2021 StarNews: Cape Fear Unearthed podcast looks at contributions of Historic Wilmington Foundation

• June 19, 2021 WECT: Community gathers for Juneteenth Maides Cemetery cleanup

May 2021

Preservation Month

• May 12, 2021 StarNews: Historic Wilmington Foundation to help restore iconic Black history landmark

• May 12, 2021 WECT: Historic Wilmington Foundation announces restoration of Giblem Lodge

• May 12, 2021 WWAY: Historic foundation works to preserve Giblem Lodge in Wilmington

• May 12, 2021 Port City Daily: There’s ‘still time’ to save the Borst building, historic preservationists say, as developers and staff shape county’s Project Grace

April 2021

Advocacy for Wilmington’s Historic Districts

• April 11, 2021 Port City Daily: ‘Not a hollow threat’: HWF aims to protect Northside’s historic value from development

• April 18, 2021 Port City Daily: Should the city protect Carolina Place as a local historic district?

• April 25, 2021 Port City Daily: Masonboro Sound Historic District: An ‘oasis of extraordinary beauty’ threatened by clear-cutting development

Promenade Performances

• April 1, 2021 StarNews: Wilmington’s 74th annual Azalea Festival will be like none that have come before it

• April 10, 2021 WWAY: Historic Wilmington Foundation hosts Promenade Performances highlighting historic buildings

• April 11, 2021 Port City Daily: Azalea Festival 2021: Locals get creative modifying events to celebrate the arrival of spring

March 2021

2021 Preservation Awards Nominations Open

• March 3, 2021 StarNews: Historic Wilmington Foundation opens 2021 Preservation Awards nominations

HWF Advocates for Historic Preservation Easement on Borst Building

• March 13, 2021 StarNews: OPINION: Project Grace needs to preserve Wilmington’s historic buildings, not demolish

• March 14, 2021 Port City Daily: Historical activists make their play, county defends process with Project Grace vote at hand

• March 15, 2021 WWAY: Project Grace gets OK’d by county commissioners

• March 15, 2021 Port City Daily: Project Grace gets thumbs up; developer to overhaul block of historic district

• March 15, 2021 WHQR: New Hanover County commissioners tweak, approve Project Grace deal, stick with lease-to-own

February 2021

Ten Tours Guest Guide Islah Speller, Profiled in Star News

• February 8, 2021 StarNews: Wilmington African-American history walking tour creator: ‘This is our story’

Burgwin-Wright House & Gardens Receives First Sapphire Plaque

• February 6, 2021 Star News: History preserved: How Wilmington’s oldest buildings are being honored

Update: Wilmington’s Confederate Monuments

• February 16, 2021 WECT: Months later Wilmington’s Confederate monuments remain in limbo

January 2021

HWF Announces Incoming Executive Director, Travis Gilbert

• January 15, 2021 Wilmington Business Journal: Historic Wilmington Foundation Names Next Executive Director

• January 27, 2021 Star News: Historic Wilmington Foundation Hires its Youngest Director Ever

December 2020

One Love Tennis Historic Home’s HWF Plaque

• December 2, 2020 WECT: One Love Tennis historic home HQ unveils plaque from HWF

Legacy Architectural Salvage’s 2020 Holiday Gift Market

• December 18, 2020 Wilmington Business Journal: Seeing A Different Shopping Season

HWF’s 55th Anniversary

• December 21, 2020 Star News: Battleship North Carolina, Wilmington Ten among major 2021 anniversaries

November 2020

Historic Wilmington Foundation Executive Director Beth Rutledge Resigns Post

• November 25, 2020 WECT: Historic Wilmington Foundation executive director steps down

• December 2, 2020 Star News: New Historic Wilmington Foundation director to inherit more progressive organization

October 2020

HWF & Cape Fear Community College Partner to Preserve Built History

• October 12, 2020 WECT: CFCC to offer new historic preservation construction program

• October 14, 2020 Star News: Historic Wilmington Foundation, CFCC team to offer historic preservation certification

September 2020

Inaugural Run Through History 5k & 1-Mile Walk

• September 29, 2020 Star News: Wilmington’s history is a marathon, not a sprint in foundation’s new 5k fundraiser

July 2020

NCDOT Presents Plans for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Replacement, Community Weighs In

• July 7, 2020 WECT: Community discusses impacts of Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement

• July 7, 2020 WWAY: NCDOT presents potential layouts for Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement

• July 9, 2020 Port City Daily: Cash-flow issues could impact plans to replace Wilmington’s Cape Fear Memorial bridge

June 2020

Historic Wilmington Foundation Supports Relocation of Confederate Monuments

• June 9, 2020 Star News: Historic Wilmington Foundation supports removal of Confederate monuments

• June 10, 2020 WECT: Push to remove confederate statues from Wilmington gets support of Historic Wilmington Foundation

• June 12, 2020 Port City Daily: Momentum gathering for removal, preservation of Confederate monuments in downtown Wilmington

May 2020

April 2020

A City Not Like Anywhere Else

• April 1, 2020 Salt Magazine: A City Not Like Anywhere Else

January 2020

The Future of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

• January 31, 2020 Star News: Could history save Cape Fear Memorial Bridge from demolition?

December 2019

HWF Debuts New Plaques for Oldest Structures

• December 3, 2019 Star News: Historic Wilmington Foundation to debut new markers for oldest structures

September 2019

August 2019

HWF’s Executive Director Featured in Salt Magazine

• August 30, 2019 Salt Magazine: The Conversation

July 2019

2019-2020 List of Most Threatened Places

• July 24, 2019 Star News: Historic foundation announces Cape Fear’s most threatened places

• July 24, 2019 Star News PHOTOS: Wilmington area’s most threatened places

• July 24, 2019 WWAY: Historic Wilmington Foundation Announces List of ‘Most Threatened Places’

• July 24, 2019 WECT: Wilmington Nonprofit Releases List of Most Threatened Places

HWF Partners with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust to Restore Reaves Chapel

Listed as one of HWF’s 2019-2020 Most Threatened Places, Reaves Chapel is now being stabilized.

• July 23, 2019 Coastal Review Online: Work Begins on Reaves Chapel Restoration

• September 20, 2019 Wilmington Business Journal: Banking On History

June 2019

2019 Carr Memorial Plaque Dedication

• May 24, 2019 WWAY: Plaque Commemorates Historic Role of Williston High School

• May 24, 2019 Star News: Williston recognized for contributions to Wilmington’s History

• May 24, 2019 Star News: PHOTOS: Williston recognized for historical impact

• May 21, 2019 New Hanover County Schools: Historic Wilmington Foundation to Present Building Plaque for the former Williston Industrial High School

HWF Advocates for Preservation During Project Grace Planning

A proposed project in New Hanover County includes the demolition of two historic buildings. HWF advocates to preserve the buildings and suggests including them in an adaptive reuse project.

• June 14, 2019 Wilmington Biz Magazine: OpEd A Future That Respects the Past

• May 12, 2019 WHQR Public Media: What Next For Project Grace?

• April 20, 2019 Star News: Letter to the Editor

• April 16, 2019 Wilmington Business Journal: County Commissioners to Pursue 2 Tracks on Project Grace

• April 15, 2019 WHQR Public Media: Project Grace Surprise at New Hanover County Commission Meeting

• March 27, 2019 WHQR Public Media: Coastline: Project Grace

• February 26, 2019 encore Pub: Project Grace Causes a Disparagement of Opinion

• February 19, 2019 WHQR Public Media: Project Grace Coming Into Focus

• September 26, 2018 encore Pub: GHOSTS OF DEVELOPMENT: Project Grace stirs up concern over downtown’s public library and development plans

April 2019

2019 Azalea Festival Home Tour

• April 2019 Our State: The Hosts with the Most

• April 2019 Salt Magazine: Story of a House

• March 31, 2019 Port City Daily: Visit the Walk to Remember House and More on the Azalea Festival Home Tour

December 2018

Moving 310 Bladen to North 4th & Swann Street

The house was donated to Historic Wilmington Foundation with the condition that we relocate it. Jennifer Concklin and Matt Walker, the building’s new owners, are hard at work transforming the turn-of-the-century house into a restaurant. Truly a community effort, this move is preservation at work! A property slated for demolition now occupies a once vacant lot, contributing to the reactivation of a blossoming neighborhood corridor. Win-win!

• December 17, 2018 Star News: Historic Wilmington home to be moved, become restaurant

• December 17, 2018 WWAY: Historic Wilmington home to be move, become restaurant

• December 21, 2018 Port City Daily: In Pictures: Downtown historic home, and future southern seafood restaurant, wheeled up North Fourth Street

November 2018

Florence Fix-It

After the devastation of Hurricane Florence, Historic Wilmington Foundation launched Florence Fix-It, awarding 20 grants (equaling nearly $100,000) to owners of old houses to help them pay for storm-related repairs or insurance deductibles. 

• November 8, 2018 Port City Daily: Historic Wilmington Foundation offering post-Florence repair grants for ‘irreplaceable’ homes