WILMINGTON – Take a stroll through downtown Wilmington and you re bound to encounter history in every block.
Even if you aren t looking for it, the stories of the Cape Fear region stand out from the modernity of the ever-changing downtown district. Nowhere is this more true than on the front porch and lower level entrance of the Burgwin-Wright House, where striking sapphire-colored plaques are now fixed beside the doorways.
The hard-to-miss blue plaques are the first debuted in a new initiative by the Historic Wilmington Foundation to better signify a historic place s age and role in the city s larger history.
The new plaque s color signifies the structure it is found on is more than 200 years old. In fact, the Burgwin-Wright House itself is 250 years old (completed in 1770) and the stone structure it was built on – remnants of the city s first jail – is more than 270 years old.