History with ‘Hud’: Story behind Bellamy Mansion and the family who lived there

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — There are several large and historic houses around Wilmington. But one at the corner of Market Street and 5th Avenue has sat in the heart of downtown for more than 160 years.

The 10,000 square-foot Bellamy Mansion was built from 1859 to 1861 for Dr. John D. Bellamy and his growing family.

He first arrived to Wilmington more than two decades earlier in 1835, to begin studying medicine under Dr. William J. Harriss. Bellamy went away to obtain is medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, but returned in 1839 and married Harriss’s oldest daughter, Eliza.

The couple lived on Dock Street for the better part of two decades, moving again before eventually settling into their massive new home at 503 Market Street in 1861 with their eight children (a final child would be born in the home a few months after).

The 22-room house was designed by architect James Post, the same person who helped design Thalian Hall and the New Hanover County Courthouse. It was constructed by skilled, enslaved workers and local, free black artisans.

The mansion was designed with elements of Greek Revival and Italianate styles, with 25-foot-tall Corinthian columns leading up to the ornate wood trim work, and each level connected by a winding staircase taking occupants from one floor to the next.

Every aspect of the mansion was designed with deliberateness, from placing the kitchen on the east side of the home so it received the first light of day to placing a belvedere at the very top with windows on every wall, acting as a sort of early air conditioning.

Construction workers built the two-story brick slave quarters on the northeast corner of the lot. It’s one room deep and three rooms wide, with a windowless back wall along the property line and two five-seat privies attached. This type of slave quarters could once be found in many cities where slavery was legal and stands in stark contrast to the small, crude slave huts associated with plantations and rural areas. It was built to match the main house and act as a fire barrier.

One of the Bellamy family’s slaves included Guy Nixon, who was the family’s butler and carriage driver. He would run errands, answer the door and serve meals along with any other needed tasks. At least eight other saves were housed on the grounds ranging from 45 to one-years-old.

But the Bellamy’s were only able to enjoy the house for about a year and a half a Yellow Fever outbreak arrived in 1862, with the family fleeing the city to Robeson County. While the house was unoccupied, it was overtaken a few years later by federal troops during the Civil War. Union officers took shelter in nicer homes around town whose owners had abandoned them. The Bellamy Mansion was hard to miss and selected as headquarters for military staff.

Once the Civil War came to an end, troops left and the Bellamy family reoccupied their home following a lengthy, months-long process. Eliza Bellamy soon began planting a formal garden sometime around 1870. But after Bellamy’s death in 1907 (more than a decade after her husband), the formal garden began a slow decline.

The rest of the house followed in the decades to come, following the death of Ellen Ballamy, the last Bellamy to live in the home.

By the late 1940s the formal garden was completely overgrown, and the mansion was gradually falling into a state of disrepair. The original carriage house was literally crumbling, and the city condemned it. The slave quarters had been inhabited through the 1930’s by servants and renters, but it too was dilapidated. The property was willed to dozens of nieces, nephews, and other family members, but none chose to make the mansion their residence.

The 1960s saw an antiques store operated from the mansion’s basement. By the early 1970’s, three great-grandchildren decided the best way to preserve the house was to create a charitable corporation. Bellamy Mansion, Inc. was officially incorporated in February of 1972, but just a few months later arsonists set fire to the mansion, leading to extensive damage across three levels of the home’s interior.
Bellamy Mansion, Inc. faced a major restoration after the fire. The non-profit pent the next fifteen years working to fundraise, stabilize, and secure the mansion.

The carriage house and main house was rebuilt in 1994, with the gardens being restored in 1996. Things continued to improve in the years to follow, with the slave quarters being restored by 2014, all thanks to Preservation North Carolina.

Today the Bellamy Museum stands as a vibrant piece of local history, telling the story of life in Wilmington long before those who now call the Port City home.

Meteorologist Matthew Huddleston (‘Hud’) has always had two major loves – weather and history. While you can watch him talk about weather each morning on WWAY, he looks forward to bringing you a little piece of history each Thursday on WWAY’s website.

To read other History with ‘Hud’ segments, click HERE.