History with ‘Hud’: Wilmington’s six surviving buildings from the 1700s
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — In the 284 years since Wilmington was founded, thousands of buildings have popped up around the area. But of the original structures constructed in the 1700s, only six remain standing today.
Several large fires over the years vastly decreased the number of historic buildings in the city, with a large fire in 1765 destroying a large chunk of town, a 1798 blaze destroying all but 12 houses and another fire in 1819 burning 300 buildings.
Through it all, the Mitchell-Anderson Home has stood the test of time – having been located at the corner of Orange Street and South Front Street since 1738.
The oldest surviving building in Wilmington, the nearly 4,500 square foot Mitchell-Anderson house is located at 102 Orange Street. It was constructed for Charleston carpenter and planter Edward Mitchell, who died in 1744.
Over 100 years later, physician Edwin A. Anderson moved into the home around 1850. The home remained in the family until 1911, when it began operating as a boarding house until it was saved for preservation in 1963 by Thomas H. Wright Jr., a founding member of the Historic Wilmington Foundation.
A few blocks over, at 14 South 3rd Street, is the second oldest building in Wilmington, constructed in 1760. The DuBois-Boatwright House was built by merchant John DuBois and remained in the family until 1842, when it was inherited by Lucy Wright Wooster in 1844. Wooster’s descendants, the Boatwrights, still own the property to this day.
A couple of houses down is the Burgwin-Wright home, built in 1770 at the corner of Market Street and 3rd Street. The house was constructed for John Burgwin on the foundation of Wilmington’s abandoned jail cells from the 1740s.
Following the capture of Wilmington towards the end of the Revolutionary War in 1781, the home was occupied by British General Lord Cornwallis for three weeks. Near the end of the century, the house was sold to Joshua Grainger Wright in 1799.
Over the next 100 years, the house fell into disrepair. By 1930, a gas station was considered to replace the home on the corner lot. But a community campaign helped save the historic structure from potential demolition in 1937. The home was restored and opened in 1951 as a museum, and remains the only colonial era building accessible to the public in Wilmington.
Up the road is the fourth oldest structure remaining in Wilmington, the Cameron-Dixon House. The structure was built in 1771 and sold the next year to Archibald Maclain, an attorney who left the property to his daughter.
Sea captain George Cameron purchased the home in 1800 and it was resold in 1828 to Clifton and Mary Cameron Dixon, whose descendants have owned the property since 1941.
Just up the river is the Brown-Lord House at 300 South Front Street. The home was built in 1775, with basement timber from before the revolutionary war still being visible.
The home was inherited by Columbia Brown Lord in 1857 and it remained in the family until 1941.
The most-recent home still standing from the 1700s is the Cameron-Hollman House. The building sits at 512 Surry Street and was built in 1790 by Captain George Cameron as his family residence.
Nearly 200 years later, the Wilmington Housing Authority gave the building to the Historic Wilmington Foundation who has protected it from demolition ever since.
Although many of these buildings are passed by without notice every day, they stand as a last connection to Wilmington’s once prominant colonial past.
