Following in the tradition of the original enslaved plasterers, William M. Hill, a second-generation master plasterer from Clinton, NC, and his team of artisans repaired extensive plaster damage resulting from the 1972 fire at the Bellamy Mansion. During 1992 and 1993 — 20 years after the blaze set by arsonists — they restored the ornamental plasterwork and fabricated the missing parts by hand. Hill's journey to become a master of his craft was a fascinating one, as uncovered by historian David Cecelski in a 2006 interview with Hill, then age 77, published in The Raleigh News & Observer. According to Cecelski, Hill was “a soft-spoken, spiritual man” who described the work of the Bellamy’s enslaved artisans as “unsurpassed.” Following are excerpts from the article, in William M. Hill’s words: My daddy was in building, and I’m guessing it was just in my blood. He didn’t finish the second grade, but he became a master plasterer. People beat a path to his door because he was good. He knew how to work. The appearance of his work was good. It was solid, it was sturdy. I learned everything from him. I stayed just as close to him as his underwear. I started with my daddy when I was 11 years old. My brother and I were there, there wasn’t anybody to keep us, so daddy carried us to the job. Plastering is as old as Time. It was done in biblical days. It was a means of covering up wood studs and wood ceiling joists, and it was done by hand, and still is. It hasn’t changed much. It takes four years to get from apprentice laborer to plasterer. But you never get above labor. You never get above that common job: making up that mortar, pushing a wheelbarrow, building a scaffold. You learn how to mix the mortar. Your plaster material is a rock, a mineral that comes out of the earth, and you mix it with sand and water. You learn how to put it on the wall or a ceiling with a trowel. It’s something that you learn the feel of with your hands. When I was 19 years old, he (Hill’s dad) turned the business over to me, lock, stock and barrel. In my younger years, I liked newer buildings: hit them and go. But I realized, in my older years, it is a challenge to go in something like the Bellamy Mansion, a building that is 150 years old. You have to get into the minds of those plasterers and they’re dead. If you don’t, you can’t redo what they’ve done.
Now, to John Doe it might not mean a thing. But for me to go in there and take this stuff that is damaged by fire and time and restore it identical, that’s a challenge. He described his perfectionism to museum staff as standing in the center of the room, staring at the plaster, climbing up and down a ladder to retouch with a putty knife, for hours, inch by laborious inch, to get it right. A wood and metal template fabricated by the team, and used to get the curvature of crown molding, was one sign of Mr. Hill's aim to do this work in a similar manner to the original plasterers. William Hill (pictured below in 2008) worked on hospitals, city halls, courthouses, jails, schools, banks, theaters, and churches. His work can be found in buildings on the campuses of both UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State, and his plasterer's tool is forever immortalized in the Bellamy Museum northwest library. He died in 2022, aged 92.
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On March 13, 1972, disaster struck the Bellamy mansion. Arsonists poured gasoline on the floors and set fire to the house. Damage was most severe in the northwest room on the first floor and in the central passage. Plaster had fallen and broken in many rooms, wood was charred and some destroyed, and fixtures and mirrors were damaged. The antebellum house, built mostly by enslaved workers in 1861, and that had previously needed only ordinary repairs and repainting, now required major restoration. Still intact on the outside, the mansion stood fire-damaged and empty at the heart of the city of Wilmington. Although no culprits or motives were ever determined, the best theory behind the 1972 fire at the Bellamy Mansion is that it was political in nature. Throughout the south, public schools were being desegregated, bringing Black and White children together in the classrooms. New Hanover County, of which Wilmington is a part, had begun integrating its high schools in 1968. Black students were bused to the White schools and not given the same opportunities as the White students. It was a tumultuous time in Wilmington, scarred by protests, fires and widespread violence. In early February 1971, Black students staged a school boycott to protest systematic mistreatment by the city’s education authorities, teachers, police, and White adult thugs who harassed them on school grounds. Amid the chaos that ensued, a White-owned mom-and-pop store called Mike’s Grocery was burned. In March 1972, nine Black men (five of them high school students) and one White woman — the Wilmington Ten — were charged and convicted of that fire based on perjured testimony. How does the fire set by arsonists at the Bellamy Mansion factor into this narrative? Many observers at the time linked the arson to conflicts over the school district’s integration. Heyward C. Bellamy, a distant cousin of the family, was the Superintendent of Schools overseeing that effort, which was unpopular among both Whites and Blacks. He became a lightning rod for community tensions. Once, he was shouted down by angry Black students. On another evening, hundreds of sympathizers with the group Rights of White People demonstrated on Bellamy's lawn and let the air out of his car's tires. His name alone may have been the catalyst for the Bellamy fire. An alternate theory to the “fire of incendiary origin,” as described in the local newspaper, is that the Bellamy house may have been attacked as a symbol of the Old South. In early 1972, prior to the March fire, members of the Bellamy family formed a charitable corporation called Bellamy Mansion, Inc. to assure the preservation and restoration of the mansion and all its antebellum glory. For some Wilmingtonians, that may not have sat well. We simply don't know. Subsequent fires, for which the causes were unknown but were not ruled arson, destroyed the home of John D. Bellamy Jr. at 602 Market Street in August 1972, and the Robert Bellamy house in 1980 (the latter is now the parking lot for the Bellamy Museum). (Sources: Wilmington News article “Fire Hits Bellamy Mansion,” March 14, 1972; Catherine W. Bishir’s “The Bellamy Mansion”; Kenneth Robert Janken’s “The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s”) When his father died in 1826, nine-year-old John D. Bellamy inherited 21 enslaved people. By 1860 he owned 114 in North Carolina, spread across three counties. He had 82 enslaved men, women, and children working at "Grovely," Bellamy’s produce plantation in Brunswick County. In Columbus County, there were 24 enslaved men between the ages of 17-40 who lived and worked at "Grist," Bellamy’s turpentine plantation. And in New Hanover County at the 503 Market Street townhome, nine domestic enslaved workers maintained the property and served the Bellamy family and their guests. The museum is fortunate to know their names and something of their lives.
The Bellamys moved into the home with their eight children, who ranged in age from a 19-year-old daughter, Belle, to 18-month-old Chesley. Primary care of the youngest Bellamy children was the responsibility of Joan, an enslaved wet nurse and nanny. Joan’s young daughter, Caroline, was described in a family memoir as matriarch Eliza Bellamy’s “little maid” who followed her “foot to foot.” She likely helped Mrs. Bellamy with her morning routine while Joan roused and tended to the Bellamy children. As coachman, Guy cared for the carriage as well as the horses. Each morning he prepared to drive Dr. Bellamy to his properties, or take Mrs. Bellamy and the children to visit friends or relatives. He ran errands in town and needed written permission from the Bellamys to legally purchase goods. Laws regulated where and when enslaved people could go, with whom they could do business, and with whom they could spend their leisure time. Wilmington’s slave owners nevertheless often disregarded the laws if it benefitted them. Similar to the image of an enslaved worker shown at left, Rosella spent most of her 16-hour workdays as a laundress. She washed and dried linens and clothing for the Bellamys and their guests in the slave quarters’ laundry room. She was likely assisted by Mary Ann; together they ironed in a basement room in the mansion. The youngest enslaved girls likely helped carry laundry bundles and fold napkins. The slaves used these exterior stairs to move between the mansion’s floors as their daily work required. The enslaved women and girls who were not preoccupied with the Bellamy children, meal preparations, or laundry spent their afternoons climbing the slave stairs as they cleaned, dusted, polished silver, and readied the mansion for guests. Guy served the evening meal, while Caroline used a “shoo fly” to ensure diners’ meals were insect free. They would then tend to the needs of the family and their guests after dinner in the parlors while Sarah tidied the kitchen and Mary Ann washed dishes. Joan put the Bellamy children to bed, and after all guests left for the night, the slaves retired to their bed chambers. Their workday ended around 10 o’clock, but they were on-call 24 hours a day. After a few hours’ slumber, the market house bell rang and another day began.
Source: Bellamy Mansion Museum Slave Quarters Exhibit. In February 1861, Dr. John D. Bellamy, his wife Eliza, and their eight children (with another on the way) moved into their new five-story home at 503 Market Street, Wilmington, NC. The Bellamy household was a large and labor-intensive one, with nine enslaved workers living on the site to attend to the family.
A complex water system allowed water captured from trough roof gutters to be pumped from a cistern under the back yard to supply running water within the house. The careful arrangement of doors and windows and vents brought cooling breezes from the shaded porch up through the house and out through the belvedere. Separate service zones and a back porch service staircase gave discreet access to the work yard, carriage house, and slave quarters at the rear. Although free Black and enslaved artisans built much of Wilmington’s architecture at the time, the Bellamy house was singled out by observers as having been constructed principally, if not entirely, by local Black workmen, including carpenters, masons, plasterers and interior finishers. Moreover, to a degree unusual in antebellum construction projects, the names of many of them have been identified. Among them were William Gould, Henry Taylor, George Price Sr. and Jr., Elvin Artis, Alfred and Anthony Howe, and members of the Sadgwar and Kellogg families.
William B. Gould I was born into slavery but escaped to his freedom in 1862 where he went on to join the Union Navy and fought against the Confederacy for the remainder of the Civil War. Three days after his escape from Wilmington he began writing a diary that he would keep for the duration of his service, and his diary is the only one known to exist that was penned by a member of the Union Navy who was an escaped slave. Gould is one of the known antebellum artisans who helped with construction of the Bellamy house, and it may have been one of his last projects in the South as an enslaved plasterer. In 2002, William B. Gould's great-grandson, William B. Gould IV, published the diary, titled "Diary of a Contraband" because the escaped slaves taken aboard the Union blockading ship were considered missing contraband rather than missing people. On the cover of the book is a striking photograph of a bespectacled Gould with a greying goatee and a perfect Windsor knot in his silk tie. The cover image is a closeup of a cabinet card taken at the Beckford photography studio in Boston, Massachusetts, and possibly the first photograph taken of Mr. Gould. This image of Mr. Gould is not the only one used at the Bellamy Museum in the interpretation of his story, but it is the one used most frequently. Staff and volunteers could recognize it from one thousand yards, but the year it was taken and the photographer who captured his stoic portrait had not come up as a topic of research. Over the last few years, Mr. Gould's story of enslavement, escape, enlistment, and entrepreneurship has begun to finally receive more regional and national recognition. Here in Wilmington, a state highway marker dedicated to Gould was installed in front of the Bellamy Museum in 2018. Plans to rename a park in Dedham, Massachusetts, the town Mr. Gould and his wife Cornelia settled in after the Civil War, came to fruition in September 2021 when the East Dedham Passive Park was renamed the William B. Gould Park, and his life story and obituary were featured in a "New York Times" article in June 2022. The grassroots organization responsible for much of this is the William Gould Memorial, and after years of planning and fundraising, the group just unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Mr. Gould situated in the park that now bears his name. Bolivian-born artist Pablo Eduardo studied photographs of Gould to create the memorial, and though depicting an older man that the one in the Beckford photograph, many features from that photograph jump out when looking at the clay model on the left--from the hairline to that Windsor knot in the tie. The Beckford photograph of this brilliant man and stalwart patriot is, to us, iconic and central to telling Mr. Gould's story, but I had never stopped to ask myself, "Who was Beckford? When was the photograph taken? What, if anything, could knowledge of the photographer help illuminate about Gould himself?" What follows is a brief biography of David C. Beckford, a "colored" immigrant who went from working odd jobs when he arrived in the United States at age sixteen to one of the most renowned photographers in New England by the time he was in his mid-thirties. Ironically, no photograph of David C. Beckford is known to exist. David C. Beckford (c. 1855-unknown) was born in Jamaica, West Indies, to William and Catharine Beckford. David sailed to America in 1872 around the age of sixteen, and he worked various jobs including as a claerk and cook in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1881, at the age of twenty-seven, David married Elvira P. Gott of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and in 1882 David became a naturalized American citizen. Sometime after becoming an American citizen, David went to work for Boston based Chickering Photography Company--established in the early 1870s--and around 1891 David C. Beckford took over the studio and renamed it Beckford's Photo Studio. In a short time, Beckford's studio was renowned, and he employed four assistants. An 1892 publication, Boston: its Finance, Commerce, and Literature, called his studio "one of the best in the country" stating his portraits were "unsurpassed by any other house in New England." A client could have their photograph hand-colored with "crayon, pastel, water colors, India ink, and oil." A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers states Beckford's studio was in operation until 1909, and it may be at that point David C. Beckford moved back to Jamaica. Beckford was not only an entrepreneur in America, but he also maintained a hardware store in Kingston, Jamaica. He sailed back and forth between Boston and Kingston conducing business, and a 1905 passenger manifest from the ship Admiral Farragut lists David as the only "Colored" passenger aboard that voyage. In 1907, the island of Jamaica suffered a 6.2 magitude earthquake--the epicenter of which was Kingston. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in recorded history with around 1,000 people losing their lives. Every building in Kingston was damaged or destroyed including Beckford's hardware store and other properties. What became of David and Ella Beckford after 1909 is currently uknown. There are no death or burial records for either, and there is no evidence they had any children. It is plausible they moved back to Jamaica after the earthquake where they remained. David C. Beckford was a successful Black businessman in two countries. There were very few Black photographers in America when Beckford took the photograph of William B. Gould I around 1892-1895. It's quite a fascinating vignette to imagine this escaped slave turned Naval officer sitting for his portrait in a busy Boston studio operated by a young, up and coming Black immigrant. Written by Leslie Randle-Morton, Associate Director of the Bellamy Mansion Museum.
In 1891, the North Carolina General Assembly founded the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts for Colored Students in Greensboro. This was the first university in North Carolina that offered higher learning for students of color. This first step in inclusivity and diversity in North Carolina’s public education system was not one the state’s elected officials made easily or altruistically, and it took the support of one of the Bellamy children to make it a reality. In 1890, John D. Bellamy Jr., third son of John D. and Eliza Bellamy, was elected to represent New Hanover County in the North Carolina Senate. While he never ran on a campaign for higher education for Black North Carolinians, his lasting legislative legacy was his involvement in just that. In 1879, James O’Hara-- a former state Representative of Halifax County who would go on to be elected second Black U.S. Congressman from North Carolina-- spearheaded the first attempt to establish a Black college in North Carolina. In a speech reported by The Journal of Industry, O’Hara called on the legislators of North Carolina to create and foster an environment for the education of Black students equal to the state university at Chapel Hill--known today as University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. That same year, John A. White, another Black legislator from Halifax County, attempted to pass a bill for the creation of a Black university. The bill quickly died due to White supremacist ideals and lack of support for Black education in the state legislature, but state-wide support for a segregated university grew among Black and White North Carolinians alike, for differing reasons, as to avoid integration of Black and White students. In 1886, a Black state teachers’ association demanded that people of color be admitted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This caused anti-Black sentiments to skyrocket in North Carolina. Former slave holders did not want their former enslaved workers and descendants to be in school with their own children and grandchildren. Despite the rise in White supremacist and anti-Black sentiments, Henry Eppes, another Black senator from Halifax County, proposed a bill for a college for Black citizens of North Carolina in 1887. He asked for $10,000 in funding the first year and $1,000 annually thereafter. It was rejected 37-1. In 1889, there were two additional attempts by Black legislators to pass a bill creating an agricultural and mechanical college for Black North Carolinians, yet they both failed as well. It was not until the U.S. Congress passed the second Morrill Act in 1890 that White members of North Carolina’s General Assembly began to take seriously the notion of establishing a university for Black students. The first Morrill Act of 1862, set aside federal lands to create colleges to “benefit agricultural and mechanical arts.” It gave each state 30,000 acres of land to be distributed by state senators and representatives. This act was directly responsible for the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts-- known today as North Carolina State University. With the passing of the second Morrill Act, the U.S. Congress prevented federal dollars being distributed to states that did not have integrated institutions of higher education or at least a separate college for Black students. The 1890 Morrill Act allocated $15,000 to each state, which increased yearly by $1,000 for 10 years until it reached a maximum of $25,000 per annum. One stipulation was that the annual appropriations had to be divided equally between Black and White schools in states that maintained segregated universities. In 1890, Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble sent letters to North Carolina Governor Daniel G. Fowle asking three questions pertaining to agricultural colleges in North Carolina: Are there agricultural and mechanical colleges in North Carolina? If so, are they segregated? And if they are segregated, are there colleges for both White and Black students? Governor Fowle responded saying there was a university-- North Carolina State University—but it was segregated, and there was no equitable university for Black students. Secretary Noble then notified Governor Fowle that since there was no college for Black students, North Carolina did not qualify for the funding established in the Morrill Acts. Governor Fowle then notified the state legislature that for this reason, and this reason only, North Carolina needed to establish a Black agricultural and mechanical college. On January 9, 1891, Isaac Alston, a Black legislator representing the 19th District of Warren County, introduced SB12 which would establish a Black college in North Carolina, but it was promptly denied. On March 5, 1891, John D. Bellamy Jr. sponsored SB12, where it easily passed its first, second, and third readings and was ordered enrolled by the House of Representatives the following day, March 6th. So why did the General Assembly deny all previously sponsored or introduced bills? A likely contributing factor was that every representative who had-- O’Hara, White, Alston-- were Black. John D. Bellamy Jr. was White. The Morrill Act of 1890 also backed North Carolina into a corner: either establish a Black college or lose all federal funding for the colleges already established. The state Senate had not wanted to support higher education for Black students, evidenced by their refusal to pass previous bills for Black universities proposed by Black Senators, but the idea of losing all federal funding for UNC-CH and NC State caused a swift about-face. On March 9, 1891, the North Carolina General Assembly founded the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race—now known as A&T University. Since its founding, A&T University has been recognized as a premier university in North Carolina. The university’s second president, James B. Dudley, was from Wilmington. John Jr. bragged Dudley’s appointment by the General Assembly was a “compliment” to himself. In 1928, the university opened its’ doors to female students. And in 1945, then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the campus. A&T University has won seven HBCU football national championships, and notable alumni include Rev. Jesse Jackson, astronaut Ronald McNair, and United States Army Nurse Corps Clara Leach Adams-Ender. The university eventually played an important an role in the American Civil Rights Movement, and Greensboro became nationally known for both peaceful protests and violent clashes. On February 1, 1960, four A&T students: Ezell Blair, Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond sat-in at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, an all-White restaurant, beginning the nationally known Greensboro sit-ins that lasted until July of 1960 and spread to many other segregated cities in the South. In 1969, the university was involved in the 1969 Greensboro Uprising, wherein the National Guard infiltrated the university after mass protests erupted over a student body election at the nearby all-Black James B. Dudley High School. The event has been described as “the most massive armed assault ever made against an American university” which left two A&T students dead and eighteen injured. Bellamy likely could never have imagined how prestigious the university would become nor the impact A&T would make on the Civil Rights Movement as a whole though he remained proud of his part in founding the university until his death. In John Jr.’s 1942 autobiography, Memoirs of an Octogenarian, which he wrote during his last year of life, he boasted that, “many other bills...were passed” during his time in the General Assembly, but he only went into detail about his role in establishing A&T University explaining he “drafted the charter for the Negro Agricultural College at Greensboro.” John Jr. never explicitly stated why he suddenly supported SB12; if he was taking it on because he truly believed in a need for a Black college or if he was simply supporting it to secure federal funding for other colleges, but it is most likely at the intersection of myriad reasons he chose to support SB12. Regardless his motivations, the outcome is that A&T University is celebrating 130 years as North Carolina’s first institution for higher education for Black students, and we at the Bellamy Museum say, “Go Aggies!!” This blog post is the product of current and ongoing research into John Jr.’s early political career.
Written by Taylor Klauk (UNCW Anthropology and History Intern) Sources: Act of July 2, 1862 (Morrill Act), Public Law 37-108, which established land grant colleges, 07/02/1862; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1996; Record Group 11; General Records of the United States Government; National Archives “Journal of the Senate of the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina at its session of 1891.” North Carolina Senate Minutes, The Senate, 1891. Lee, J.M. and Keys, S.W. (2013). Land-grant But Unequal: State One-to -One Match Funding for 1890 Land-grant Universities. (APLU Office of Access and Success publication no. 3000-PB1). Washington, DC: Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Logan, Frenise. “Legislation Provided Key for A&T History.” News & Record (Greensboro, NC), Jan. 12, 1991. “North Carolina A&T State University.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 4, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_A%26T_State_University#Civil_Rights_Movement. pg. 103 of "Memoirs of an Octogenarian" https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/17041 If you have spent any time in the downtown Wilmington area, you have noticed wood plaques affixed to homes and buildings all around. The white, hand painted lettering reveals the building’s original owners and people of significance associated with it over time. Those plaques are part of a longstanding program of Historic Wilmington Foundation (HWF), a nonprofit organization which works to protect and preserve historic sites in New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties. This organization has long featured a plaque program where homeowners and business owners in historic buildings can apply and pay for a plaque detailing the brief history of that building. The plaque program in Wilmington is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the United States and helps fund the important preservation work done by HWF. The plaque program committee--a group of volunteer historians, librarians, archivists, and lifelong Wilmingtonians--has recently expanded the program to include new plaque colors that will designate older buildings and homes. This year, the Bellamy Mansion Museum’s slave quarters and mansion will receive new golden yellow plaques, which designate them as at least 150 years old. The unveiling ceremony for the Museum’s new plaques will be on October 29th at 5 pm. About HWFThe Historic Wilmington Foundation was created in 1966 by a small group of local citizens who valued local built history and became determined to save it. The plaque program is just one of the ways that this organization helps to preserve local history. Currently, the HWF has given out over 670 plaques to commemorate the history of cottages, mansions, alleyways, beach bungalows, storefronts, and more throughout three Lower Cape Fear Region counties. For decades, HWF has offered two different colored plaques to adorn historic buildings. A maroon plaque indicates that a building or structure is 75-99 years old, and a black plaque indicates that a structure is 100+ years old. The program also includes green plaques for historic alleyways and beige plaques for historic buildings at the local beaches. In the fall of 2019, the HWF added two more color designations: a golden yellow plaque to indicate a structure is 150-199 years old, and a blue plaque to indicate that a structure is 200+ years old. The Burgwin-Wright House & Gardens will unveil a blue plaque soon as it celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2020. Plaques and the Bellamy Mansion Museum The Bellamy mansion applied for its first plaque--a 100-year plaque--just a few months after officially opening as the Bellamy Mansion Museum in 1994. A draft of the original plaque, as well as the application submitted to the HWF’s plaque program committee can be found on the New Hanover County Public Library website in the Port City Architecture section. The Bellamy slave quarters received its first plaque in 2004. Both of these structures were originally adorned with black plaques, which indicated the buildings as over 100 years old. Since the Bellamy Mansion was built between 1859-1861, and its slave quarters built in 1859, the plaques have now been updated to a golden yellow color, which indicates them to be between 150-199 years old. When asked about the significance of Historic Wilmington Foundation’s plaque program, Bellamy Mansion Museum’s Executive Director, Gareth Evans said, “It’s great value is the presentation of researched history, in context, right on the front of historic buildings. You can’t get much more direct in teaching history to the public than giving them the story right by the front door.” Other Bellamy Plaques Around WilmingtonThere are many other Bellamy related buildings around Wilmington that also have plaques such as the Grant-Thompson house right next door to the Bellamy Mansion Museum at 513 Market Street. Built in 1847 by James Thompson for local merchant James Grant. Robert R. Bellamy purchased, remodeled and enlarged the house in a Queen Anne style in 1890, and it remained in the family for fifty-six years. Today it houses the law firm of Kohut & Adams. At 121 S. 2nd Street stands the Ballard-Potter-Bellamy House built for Jethro Ballard in 1844 and acquired by Mary Bellamy, wife of William J.H. Bellamy, in 1884. This house remained in the Bellamy family for 80 years and remains a private residence. A commercial building associated with the Bellamy family that boasts a plaque is the Robert R. Bellamy Building at 7 N. Front Street. Built as a rental property for Robert, it originally housed a boot and shoe store. The building remained in the Bellamy family until 1988 and today is the downtown location of Slainte Irish Pub. To find out more about the plaques around Wilmington, you can visit the Historic Wilmington Foundation’s interactive plaque map. Interested in a Plaque for Your Home or Business? To be eligible for a hand painted plaque from HWF, a property must first be 75 years of age or older. However, at Kure Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and Carolina Beach buildings more than 50 years old do qualify. If a building or property is of an age to qualify for a plaque, the application process can then begin. The plaque application on HWF’s website leads property owners through the process of researching the property and they have information on local researchers if the owner prefers to hire a professional to carry out their research. The cost for members of Historic Wilmington Foundation is $345 and non-members pay $395, but the plaque includes a family membership! Already have a plaque but need it repainted? HWF extends the member rate of $345 for anyone needing repainting or multiple copies of a plaque. If you have any questions, email Blair Middleton at HWF. By Elizabeth Sutton, UNCW English intern
Sources: Historic Wilmington Foundation's website Port City Architecture collection at New Hanover County Library "Historic Wilmington Foundation to debut new markers for oldest structures," Star News, December 3, 2019. COVID-19 has affected everyone in 2020. Most businesses shut down, and while some--such as restaurants--reopened within a few weeks, others--like salons, breweries, and libraries--had to wait for months. The Bellamy Mansion Museum closed down on March 17; the beginning of Phase 1 for North Carolina, and was not able to reopen for almost six months. Due to the six-month closure, the Bellamy Mansion Museum lost between $25,000 and $40,000 a month, which is almost ⅔ earned income for the entire year. Other local museums and historic sites suffered from the closure too including the Cameron Art Museum, the Railroad Museum, the Children’s Museum of Wilmington, Poplar Grove Plantation, the Latimer House, the Burgwin-Wright House & Gardens and even state sites like Fort Fisher and Brunswick-Town/Fort Anderson. The spring and summer months are always the busiest season for local historic sites and museums, and those tourism dollars help sustain the non-profits through the fall and winter months. Rentals were cancelled. Planned events were postponed. And even now that the museums and historic sites are reopened, area tourism will likely not rebound fully for at least another year. During the six-month closure, the four full time staff members at the Bellamy Mansion Museum worked from home, on maintenance at the museum, and on projects with their parent organization--Preservation North Carolina . The staff created a Distance Learning page at bellamymansion.org that includes a 3-dimensional virtual tour of the site along with relaunching the museum’s website with a brand new look. The staff also assisted Preservation North Carolina with its virtual “Shelter Series” of free webinars.
On September 11th the museum finally reopened to the public. While we are excited to be able to welcome visitors in person, there are some new COVID-19 procedures and protocols required for the museum to remain open. The new rules include:
The Bellamy Mansion Museum tour hours are Mondays-Saturdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sundays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. We are located at 503 Market Street, Wilmington, NC 28401. Written by Carolyn Harris (UNCW student; Bellamy intern) and Leslie Randle-Morton.
Sources: https://www.starnewsonline.com/photogallery/NC/20200911/PHOTOGALLERY/911009991/PH/1 |
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