Wilmington is a 250-year old historic walking city with timeless 18th and 19th century architecture sitting along beautiful brick streets and stellar views of the Cape Fear River. The city was named in honor of Spencer Compton, the Earl of Wilmington, a Prime Minister under King George II.

Wilmington offers a flourishing artistic community, museums, art galleries, a performance theatre, a ballet company, a symphony orchestra, an international airport, and is home to the N.C. Azalea Festival – a 50-year southern tradition. You can explore the Cape Fear by riverboat cruise or the historic architecture by horse drawn carriage. The mile-long Riverwalk runs along the Cape Fear riverfront and offers direct views of the U.S.S. Battleship North Carolina and is lined with fine dining restaurants, quaint shops, boutiques, and historic homes. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Wilmington one of its 2008 Dozen Distinctive Destinations.

Other New Hanover County family oriented vacation spots include popular Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Fort Fisher – home to the North Carolina Aquarium, the Fort Fisher Civil War Museum, and the Southport/Fort Fisher Ferry. Travel to and from the Wilmington area is made easy with the Wilmington International Airport, major highways and interstates.

Wilmington is also home to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College. The UNC Center for Marine Science in Wilmington includes a $17.5 million facility dedicated to local, state and national marine research in the fields of oceanography, coastal and wetland studies, marine biomedical and environmental physiology, and marine biotechnology and aquaculture. For 10 years UNCW has been ranked as one of the top 10 public masters’ universities in the South. Cape Fear Community College is the fifth largest community college in the state and is a major development partner in southeastern North Carolina.

As a major hub for movie, television, and commercial productions with the EUE Screen Gems Studio, Wilmington is home to the largest television and movie production facility outside of California. Motion pictures such as A Walk to Remember, The Secret Life of Bees, The Jackal, Billy Bathgate, Empire Records, Cape Fear, Black Knight, 28 Days, The Crow, Nights in Rodanthe, Crimes of the Heart, and popular television shows such as Matlock, Surface, The WB’s Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill have been filmed and produced in the New Hanover and Brunswick County coastal areas.