In the Swing

It’s Thursday night at the USO in downtown Wilmington. The Glenn Miller Band launches into “In the Mood.” Women in dresses and men in suspenders and ties crowd the dance floor and dance the Lindy hop. Feet fly and skirts twirl. This could be a scene from 1941. Or it could be a scene from…

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Remembering Lives Lost

The death of a loved one leaves a void. Once there was life and laughter. Many need something tangible to view to touch to help honor the memory of the departed. That’s the idea behind the Celebration of Life murals at the Lower Cape Fear Hospice pavilion in Wilmington. The murals consist of individual brightly…

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A Celebration of Christmas

The historic Bellamy Mansion annually gets decked out for the holidays with festive decorations made from materials that would have been available in 1860.

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Rails & Tides

It was Tuesday March 12 1968 a clear afternoon in downtown Wilmington. Students were milling about what was then Cape Fear Technical Institute. Government employees were at work in the Federal Building. The Coast Guard cutter Mendota gently rocked at her berth on the Cape Fear River. The forecast called for light rain in the…

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Art Treatise: Freedom and Play

Artist Ann Parks McCray describes her non-representational nature-based paintings as having an almost pixie-ish energy. “Painting doesn’t have to be fragile focused or even directed; it can also be freeing and fun ” the Wilmington artist explains. McCray has painted for many years in the Wilmington region but began her professional career in Texas where…

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The Architecture that Defines a Community

In 2008 New Hanover County voters approved a $164 million bond measure that would transform Cape Fear Community College and much of the north end of downtown Wilmington. While the funding allowed the school to address several needs including equipment and technology to keep the necessary accreditation for students to transfer credits to a four-year…

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Sages of the Soil

When their vegetable garden didn’t sprout as planned Connie and Bob Langgood went to the New Hanover County Arboretum’s plant clinic on a rainy Thursday morning in search of answers. A team of skilled Master Gardeners was ready with help — and soil sample boxes. Ireland Upchurch a 94-year-old volunteer sat at a counter surrounded…

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