Independent LivingA Little Piece of Wilmington
August 28, 2017
The residents of Brightmore took a Historic Bus Tour of Downtown Wilmington this week, with Chamber of Commerce Member, Jack Mills. We started by PPD and circled around to see the new marina, convention center, hotels, Cape Fear Community College and the new Wilson Center Theater, Railroad Museum, the Diligence & NC Battleship all the way back up to the Cape Fear Museum of History. During the bus tour, residents found it interesting to learn that the Wilmington Railroad Museum was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest HO train set (1563 railroad cars) to go 750 feet! Wilmington is getting bigger as each day goes by with all the redevelopment and our population rising. The city of Wilmington’s population is 115,000 and New Hanover County population is 212,000 and they are anticipating it growing another 60,000 in the next few years! The real excitement and prize of the whole trip was when we arrived at the Cape Fear History Museum. You always hear people say “been there, done that”, but not when you get the treatment Brightmore got! We not only toured parts of the main museum, but we were allowed “Behind the Scenes” to the Underground Artifact Collection in the basement…60,000 artifacts of Wilmington’s History! We joined Terry, the museum’s Collection Assistant, as he guided us through the rows & rows of history! It ranged from costume collections from some of the oldest stores in Wilmington, to old parking meters & signs, beauty shop equipment, old school desks, old mill machines, art, and New Hanover High and Williston High School, Michael Jordan & movie memorabilia… and so much more! We even learned that one of our very own residents, Martha Beery who owned Belk Beery, just donated several of her own family heirlooms to the museum! You never know what items you will see at the museum and what type of history they will hold, but you do know they are all…A Little Piece of Wilmington!