America 2015: Day Twenty-Nine (27 August 2015)

We turn away to face the cold, enduring chill
As the day begs the night for mercy, love.
A sun so bright it leaves no shadows
Only scars carved into stone on the face of earth.
The moon is up and over One Tree Hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes.
You run like a river on to the sea

                                                                                                       - U2

Thursday 27 August 2015

We drove north out of South Carolina into North Carolina, to visit Wilmington, a small town that sits on the Cape Fear River and is famous for being a popular shooting location for film and television. Most memorably, the beaches, streets and parks of Wilmington were the exterior façade of both Capeside, Massachusetts in Dawson’s Creek and, for nearly a decade, Tree Hill, North Carolina in One Tree Hill. For varying reasons, both shows have had a fairly large impact on a number of generations of teenagers/young adults.

 

You can understand why so many productions have chosen to base themselves in Wilmington. Even under the cloudy skies that reigned supreme today, it only takes about three minutes to realise the incredible beauty of the town that sits on the banks of the Cape Fear River. The movie Iron Man 3 and the television drama Sleepy Hollow have also been filmed in and around picturesque Wilmington.

Historically, Wilmington has always been an important southern town because of the waterway that it sits beside. In the Civil War, for example, the town was a hot spot for both Confederate navy and privately-owned blockade runners desperate to escape the stranglehold that the Union fleet had put on the south. Supplies came in from England and were dispersed from Wilmington to armies in the field.

A Confederate ship yard was responsible for building iron-clad boats, but the remaining fleet and the structure itself was burnt by the men who worked there rather than have it all fall into Union hands when the armies under General Sherman swept through there. It’s still mind-boggling to consider that it was basically the same country, torn in two, killing one another in the hundreds of thousands.

Moored across the river in Battleship Park – where the River Court from One Tree Hill used to be – is the USS North Carolina. The World War Two-era battleship saw action supporting the island-hopping US Marine Corps, offshore at Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands and Tulagi. At the end of the war, the ship was decommissioned, and eventually brought back to America, and to a permanent home as a memorial in Wilmington. It was a shame we didn’t have enough time to explore it.

 

 

It’s definitely a feeling of stepping back in time when you arrive in Wilmington, such is the frequency of classic old buildings along the waterfront and elsewhere in town. Most have been converted into restaurants and even accommodation, but, on the exterior at least, they maintain their look. I love places that preserve their architectural history.

We took a cruise on the Cape Fear River for lunch, learning a lot of the history of Wilmington and it’s port, which is still very much in use. There were several large container ships docked as we went past.

On the way back to Myrtle Beach, we went over the 6^th Street Bridge, famous as the opening scene in One Tree Hill. They shot upwards of one hundred and fifty episodes over nine seasons, and it was weird walking along the water front and elsewhere in town, seeing places that had featured on the show. It was like I’d already been there a hundred times, without actually having set foot there. Strange feeling – but a great town!

 

I’d really love to have more time to explore Wilmington. Actually, that goes for basically everywhere we’ve been, and we’re back on the road, heading south to Charleston, another significant harbour city in South Carolina.