In 1768 after Connecticut businessman Colonel James Richardson was shipwrecked off the Outer Banks he explored the area and decided to make his home in the lands of the Cape Fear River basin.

2010 marks the centennial of the elegant gardens of live oak, dogwoods, and Wilmington’s signature azaleas on the grounds of Orton Plantation.

The buildings of Historic Stagville tell the story of the lifestyle Plantation residents in the nineteenth century South from the Bennechan family plantation home to the four-room enslaved family houses.

Insights into rural plantation life in eastern North Carolina can be found at the Historic Hope Plantation.  Explore the 1803 Mansion, home to North Carolina Governor David Stone.