History with ‘Hud’: How Airlie Gardens blossomed from a private estate into an extremely popular public garden
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — One of the Cape Fear’s most popular holiday traditions has been going strong for several nights this month. Enchanted Airlie began in 2005 and quickly sells out each year, with countless people wanting to enjoy the garden’s more than one million sparkling lights. But the gardens which hold the festive fun have come a long way since they were first established.
The area now known as Airlie Gardens was originally part of 640-acre land grant from King George II given to brothers Jonathon and Solomon Ogden in 1735. They owned the land until the 1800s, when Joshua Grainger Wright (the namesake for Wrightsville Beach) purchased 320 acres of the ground for 110 pounds.
Another land transaction and division took place in 1886 when Sarah Green and Pembroke Jones (a wealthy rice trader) bought over 150 acres of the land a couple of years after getting married. They transformed the property into a picturesque garden with ponds and flowers as a private getaway in 1901. The name Airlie was given to the garden in 1906, named for the Jones family home in Scotland.
The couple also built a large mansion near the garden, with a tennis court and 38 guest rooms. Sarah was big on entertaining, with the New York Times noting the Jones’ legendary parties, spending $300,000 each year on entertaining alone.
A major change to the gardens came with the purchase of the land by Bertha and Wadell Corbett in 1948. They made them accessible to the public each spring when the flowers were at their peak, changing their previously private status.
But disasters began to strike the gardens in the years to follow. 1954’s Hurricane Hazel flooded much of the grounds and damaged trees, with a double punch arriving in 1996 with Hurricane Bertha and Fran destroying the garden grounds seemingly beyond repair.
The Corbett family decided they didn’t have the resources or energy to bring the gardens back to their former glory and decided to sell. The ground could have easily gone to developers and been lost to history, but New Hanover County stepped up in 1999 to buy the 67-acre region for $10.5 million, turning it into a public park.
Today, the gardens welcome more than 100,000 people each year. Whether they turn out for Enchanted Airlie, to see a nearly 500-year-old Oak Tree or just to meander through the numerous flowers and trees, the historic Airlie Gardens has something for everyone to enjoy.
