#TBT: A walk through the Gardens

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s almost the end of summer, but there is still enough time to enjoy one more stroll through the garden.

Airlie Gardens began as a private garden for Sarah Wharton Green Jones in the 1890’s. After developing the land and the estate, the formal Airlie Gardens was opened in 1901.

Sarah Wharton Green married Pembroke Jones in the 1880’s. Jones was a successful businessman turned financier with railroad and shipping interests. The couple had 2 children, Pembroke and Sadie Green Jones.

Jones insisted that it be a Southern garden, filled with thousands of flowers like magnolias and azaleas.

After Pembroke’s death in 1919, Sarah married their mutual friend, Henry Walters. Walters was a railroad executive. They married in 1922.

In the late 1940s, the Corbett family bought the estate. The Gardens were bought by New Hanover County in 1999.