History with ‘Hud’: Detailing the Wilmington house built for North Carolina’s first popularly elected governor

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — There’s a house at the corner of South Front Street and Nun Street in Wilmington which takes up an entire city block. It’s not the oldest home in town nor the most historic. But it’s an important piece of architecture due to the first resident to call it home.

The Dudley Mansion was built in 1825 for Edward Bishop Dudley.

Dudley was born near Jacksonville, and entered politics early in life. In 1811, at age twenty-one, he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature from Onslow County. By 1814 he was elected to the North Carolina State Senate.

Dudley was elected governor of North Carolina a little more than two decades later in 1836, becoming the first person assigned to the position by a popular vote.

By this time he had already called the Wilmington mansion home for a little more than a decade. The home boasts more than 12,000 square feet with six bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two partial bathrooms on four stories overlooking the Cape Fear River.

Later owners of the home included railroad investor Pembroke Jones and his wife, Sarah, who hosted a lavish lifestyle and grand parties.

Once they left the home, the mansion briefly hosted a restaurant during World War Two and was used as headquarters for The Elks Club until 1969 followed by the Historic Wilmington Foundation until 1985.

The mansion has hosted many prominent guests, including two US presidents, Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft, along with actor Russell Crowe.

Following its last tenant, the mansion was divided into four separate apartments and eventually abandoned. But a buyer came to the rescue decades later, with the interior walls on all four levels being removed to restore the house to a single-family dwelling.

The home was sold a few times afterwards, but multiple million each time. It was last purchased in 2021 for $2 million.

Over the last few years, the home has remained a prominent piece of local architecture, being featured in the annual Azalea Festival Home Tour. Not too bad for a building celebrating its 200th birthday this year.

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.