43 duringthe first decade of the 20th century, Wilmington’s urban sprawl, supported by streetcar lines, had grown from the east bank of the Cape Fear River as far as 17th Street. “People needed to get away from the crowded downtowns and wanted to have their own property,” says George Edwards, executive director of Historic Wilmington Foundation. “People were hankering for a larger house, greater yards and a sort of statement that they have achieved a certain amount of success.” A local Wilmington Realtor, William Archibald McGirt, managed the Forest Hills Development Company. Under McGirt, the con-struction of the first phase of Forest Hills, north of Burnt Mill Creek, began in September 1924. The company’s first model home at 314 Forest Hills Drive, built in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style, is easily recognized by its gambrel or barn-shaped roof. “The Dutch Revival style is a prevalent style in the streetcar neighborhoods,” Edwards says. “I think that defines the neighborhood.” On the first day of the model’s open house in March 1926, the house was mobbed. TheWilmington Star reported an estimated 1,000 people visited the home in the span of seven hours, including its buyer, Charles Fore, a dry goods merchant. From his office in the caretaker’s cottage at the National Cemetery in the 20th block of Market Street, inside a federally built and owned Dutch Revival home, Edwards is entrenched in the city’s Historic Overlay District. Bordering the Streetcar District, along with Forest Hills, all three districts are designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
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