Wilmington

Wilmington is a port city and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.  The population of Wilmington was 115,451 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. (Wikipedia) and is a metropolitan area in New Hanover and Pender counties.  

In 2008, Wilmington was one of the Dozen Distinctive Destinations, named by The National Trust for Historic Preservation, and again ranked in 2014 by USA Today readers as the “Best American Riverfront.”  City residents live between the river and the ocean, with four nearby beach communities just outside Wilmington: Fort Fisher, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, all within half-hour drives from downtown Wilmington.

In 2003 the city was designated by the US Congress as a “Coast Guard City”.Until 2020, it was the home port for the USCGC Diligence, a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. The World War II battleship USS North Carolina is held as a war memorial; moored across from the downtown port area, the ship is open to public tours. 

Other attractions include the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, The Children’s Museum of Wilmington, and the Wilmington Hammerheads United Soccer Leagues soccer team. The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) provides a wide variety of programs for undergraduates, graduate students, and adult learners, in addition to cultural and sports events open to the community. 

On September 2, 2020, President Trump officially declared Wilmington as the first World War II heritage city in the country.

Wilmington is the home of EUE/Screen Gems Studios, the largest domestic television and movie production facility outside California. “Dream Stage 10,” the facility’s newest sound stage, is the third-largest in the United States. It houses the largest special-effects water tank in North America. After the studio’s opening in 1984, Wilmington became a major center of American film and television production. Numerous movies in a range of genres and several television series have been produced here, including Iron Man 3, Super Mario Bros., The Conjuring, The Crow, We’re the Millers, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, One Tree Hill, Dawson’s Creek, and NBC’s Revolution. 

Wilmington is host to many annual festivals, including, most notably, the Azalea Festival. The Azalea Festival, sponsored by the Cape Fear Garden Club, features a garden tour, historic home tour, garden party, musical performances, a parade, and a fireworks show. It takes place every year in April.

(many pieces of information for this page were found on Wikipedia.)