How the Isabel Holmes and Thomas Rhodes bridges got their name

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — With a portion of lanes on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge closed for the next several months, more traffic than ever is relying on two bridges to get into Wilmington.

The Isabel Holmes bridge carries passengers across the Cape Fear River into downtown, but many drivers have to cross the Thomas Rhodes bridge to get to the Isabel Holmes bridge. This poses the question, who were Holmes and Rhodes?

Isabel Stellings Homes was born in Wilmington in 1925. She attended New Hanover High School and received a degree in geography from the University of Georgia. Holmes went on to become the first woman to serve on both the North Carolina Board of Transportation and the N.C. Parole Commission. She died in 1978, two years before the four-lane bridge across the Cape Fear River was completed. It wasn’t renamed for her until 1988.

Samuel Thomas Rhodes represented New Hanover County in the State House from 1973 through 1984. The bridge named in his honor was completed in late 1984. Rhodes also served as secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development from 1985 to 1988 under Gov. Jim Martin.