Best Bird Watching Area Wilmington Near Me

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4worldlovers: In 2011, the City of Wilmington entered into a long-term conservation lease with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust on the 39-acre tract of land owned by the Oleander Company. This easement permits the limited development of the land by the city of Wilmington.

The garden features a collection of carnivorous plants including Venus Fly Traps a variety of Pitcher Plants and Sundews. The garden area is approximately .728 of an acre. Interpretive signage is on site to provide information about the garden.

4worldlovers: The Abbey Nature Preserve is part of the mill pond acreage that connected the manor house to the “old farm road” leading to agricultural fields straight out to the Intracoastal waterway. This farm road and its trails were daily traversed for two over centuries by the enslaved community of Poplar Grove Plantation. This community and their descendants are part of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor designated by the National Park Service. Visit Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor – Where Gullah Geechee Culture Lives (gullahgeecheecorridor.org)

The Abbey Nature Preserve has two tracts totaling 63 acres under the stewardship of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust. An additional 65-acre tract is not protected by a conservation easement, and sits between the mill pond and the manor house. The entire 65-acre tract including the parking lot and trails to the mill pond, has been sold to Mungo Home for future development. More information here: https://coastallandtrust.org/lands/abbey-nature-preserve/

Pender County has negotiated with Mungo Homes to manage the 63 acres under the stewardship of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, but not the 65-acre tract currently used as trails in the Abbey Nature Preserve. The current trail head will be relocated to Scotts Hill Loop Road so that Mungo Homes can clear cut the 65 acres to create 9,000 sq. ft home sites. More information here: Pender County to operate and maintain Abbey Nature Preserve | Pender County Government (pendercountync.gov)

The Mungo Home development will severely compromise the original use of the “old farm road” of this former peanut plantation site, and completely destroy the last remaining intact plantation site in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor of Pender County. The historical significance is monumental. Please visit for more information and to take action: https://savescottshill.org/

A copy of Joseph Mumford Foy’s 1857 Peoples Pocket Diary lists the fields of the plantation by name, including Bowen Field, Old House Field, Mill Field, Long New Ground Field, Alligator Field, Lilaput Field, and Fox Neck, among others.

Poplar Grove was originally owned Ann and James Moore, Commander of the Whigs in Moore’s Creek campaign, 1776. Visit Moore, James | NCpedia for more information. The property was purchased by Cornelius Harnett in 1767 as his second plantation home on Topsail Sound to escape the mosquitoes of the Northeast branch of Cape Fear River where his primary residence, Hilton, was located. After Harnett’s capture by British forces and subsequent death in 1781, it was then awarded and/or confiscated by Francis Clayton who had served as Harnett’s secretary on the Wilmington Safety Committee, and later discovered to be Tory spy and traitor to the Patriot cause.

Upon the discovery of Clayton’s betrayal, Poplar Grove was listed again for sale on January 10, 1791 “where Mr .Clayton usually resided (formerly Mr. Harnett’s) containing about 800 acres, with a commodious dwelling house and other necessary buildings. A considerable part of this is clear and under good fences, having been planted this present year, and is excellent for corn and indigo: with this, or separate, will be sold an extensive range of banks, between the Sound and the Sea, esteemed valuable for stock and the timber, and on which is some good plantable land” (See advert below). This plantation site and another of 1,920 acres included 40 enslaved persons at this time.

The plantation and “lands of the sound ” was then purchased in 1795 by James Foy, Jr., son of Captain James Foy, Sr., who had served in the American Revolution and part of James Moore and Cornelius Harnett’s circle of American Patriots residing along the coastal communities between Topsail Sound and New Bern, Edenton and Bath, and the river plantations from Moore’s Creek to Fayetteville, along both branches of the Cape Fear.

The following excerpts include Runaway Slaves notices from notable plantations between Brunswick, New Hanover and Onslow Counties especially as it relates to the principle enslavers on the 1800 Census for New Hanover County. Most notably, are those enslaved listed with tribal markings, country of origin such as Guinea or the Congo, speakers of other languages … Continue reading Runaway Slave Ads 1765-1812