Sunset Park Historic District | |
Sunset Park Historic District, September 2009 | |
Location | Roughly bounded by Carolina Beach Rd., Southern Blvd., Burnett Blvd., and Sunset Ave., Wilmington, North Carolina |
---|---|
Coordinates | 34°12′14″N77°56′45″W / 34.20389°N 77.94583°W |
Area | 227 acres (92 ha) |
Built | 1914 |
Architect | Stephens, Burett; Gouse, James F. |
Architectural style | Bungalow/craftsman, Colonial Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 03001265 [1] |
Added to NRHP | December 10, 2003 |
Sunset Park is a neighborhood south of the Historic Downtown of Wilmington, in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. It was designated a national historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. [1]
"Sunset Park," a name submitted by Montrose Bain, circulation editor of the Wilmington Star, was the winning entry for a new 600-acre (2.4 km2) development just 3 miles (4.8 km) south of downtown Wilmington along the Federal Point Road (Carolina Beach Road). The prize for his submission was $10.00. [2]
The Fidelity Trust & Development Company purchased the 600-acre (2.4 km2) tract on March 9, 1912. The original owner, T.F. Boyd of Hamlet, North Carolina, sold the land for $35,000.00. The Opening Sale of lots in Sunset Park to the public was originally Monday, September 16, 1912. The date was later postponed to Monday, October 7, 1912. [2]
Sunset Park was envisioned by the Fidelity Development & Investment Company as a high-class, planned community with views overlooking the Cape Fear River and picturesque Greenfield Lake. All the city conveniences and modern improvements would be guaranteed by FD&I. Street car service, electric lights, gas, sewers, sidewalks and tree-lined Macadam type roadways and plazas just to name a few. The neighborhood is said to be modeled after that of Ansley Park and Westland Estates in Atlanta, Georgia.
In the October 5, 1912 edition of The Evening Dispatch was a pen drawing bird's eye view over Sunset Park along with a poem singing its praises.
Beyond the placid waters/Of Greenfield's lovely lake,
There lies as fair a region/As skillful hands can make.
It reaches to the 'Dram Tree',/Made famous long ago;
And many mounds and batt'ries/Its history will show.
Regardless of the prices/It costs to reach the mark,
We'll beautify the landscape/Of lovely Sunset Park.
With granolithic side-walks,/And streets macadamized,
We'll leave all other places/Neglected and despised.
Each man who owns a cottage,/That he can call his own,
Will be a little Monarch/That no one can dethrone.
Each lot will have its sewers,/To take the filth away;
And water-mains to furnish/The folks who come to stay.
The sun will shine in daylight,/Electric lights at dark;
We'll have a Fairy City/At lovely Sunset Park.
To each prospective buyer/We'll offer terms to please,
So that every one may purchase/A home with perfect ease.
No painter can portray it,/His brush would be too dark,
To give the glowing colors/of lovely SUNSET PARK.
The majority of resources were built from the 1910s to the 1960s and incorporate Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, Tudorbethan, Colonial Revival, Cape Cod (house), Ranch-style house, and Commercial building styles of architecture. The earliest houses are scattered along Northern and Central boulevards; 1940 to 1950s Cape Cod and Ranch houses line the cross streets. Architecturally, the earliest designs are Queen Anne style, dating to the early 1910s. The two-story dwellings have hipped or gabled roofs, wraparound porches, corner towers, bay windows, projecting wings, wood or simulated siding, shingles, decorative brickwork, and a wide range of window types. [2]
A large number of homes were built from 1940 to 1943 when the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company expanded its facilities on land intended for Sunset Park homes along the eastern edge of the Cape Fear River. [2]
The movie Blue Velvet had scenes filmed in Sunset Park including the house of Detective John Williams (George Dickerson). Season 9 of Matlock (TV series) had scenes filmed in Sunset Park including Benjamin L. "Ben" Matlock's (Andy Griffith) house.
The Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) encompasses 43,607 acres on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. CCNS was created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, when he signed a bill enacting the legislation he first co-sponsored as a Senator a few years prior. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. The CCNS includes nearly 40 miles (64 km) of seashore along the Atlantic-facing eastern shore of Cape Cod, in the towns of Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans and Chatham. It is administered by the National Park Service.
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth-most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the principal city of the Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes New Hanover and Pender counties in southeastern North Carolina, which had a population of 285,905 in 2020.
The Henry Ford is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains the presidential limousine of John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theatre, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, the Rosa Parks bus, and many other historical exhibits. It is the largest indoor–outdoor museum complex in the United States and is visited by over 1.7 million people each year. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981 as "Edison Institute".
Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. The fort was located on one of Cape Fear River's two outlets to the Atlantic Ocean on what was then known as Federal Point or Confederate Point and today is known as Pleasure Island. The strength of Fort Fisher led to its being called the Southern Gibraltar and the "Malakoff Tower of the South". The battle of Fort Fisher was the most decisive battle of the Civil War fought in North Carolina.
Chatham Lighthouse, known as Twin Lights prior to 1923, is a lighthouse in Chatham, Massachusetts, near the "elbow" of Cape Cod. The original station, close to the shore, was built in 1808 with two wooden towers, which were both replaced in 1841. In 1877, two new towers, made of cast iron rings, replaced those. One of the towers was moved to the Eastham area, where it became known as Nauset Light in 1923.
Nauset Light, officially Nauset Beach Light, is a restored lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore near Eastham, Massachusetts, erected in 1923 using the 1877 tower that was moved here from the Chatham Light. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower is a cast-iron plate shell lined with brick and stands 48 feet (15 m) high. The adjacent oil house is made of brick and has also been restored. Fully automated, the beacon is a private aid to navigation. Tours of the tower and oil house are available in summer from the Nauset Light Preservation Society which operates, maintains and interprets the site. The tower is located adjacent to Nauset Light Beach.
Race Point Light is a historic lighthouse on Cape Cod, in Provincetown, Massachusetts; it is on the National Register of Historic Places. The original tower, first illuminated in 1816, was replaced in 1876 with the current 45-foot tall iron-plated tower and a new keeper's dwelling. The American Lighthouse Foundation operates the property and rents out two buildings for overnight stays. The actual light is maintained by the Coast Guard. The site is reached by walking about 45 minutes over sand; with a National Park Service Oversand Permit, a four-wheel-drive vehicle can be used.
The Highland Light is an active lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro, Massachusetts. The current tower was erected in 1857, replacing two earlier towers that had been built in 1797 and 1831. It is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Cape Cod.
Long Point Light Station is a historic lighthouse at the northeast tip of Long Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As a navigational aid, it marks the southwest edge of the entrance to Provincetown Harbor. The United States Coast Guard Light List describes it simply as a "white square tower". The light it casts is green, occulting every 4 seconds, and, at a focal height of 35.5 feet (10.8 m) above mean sea level, has a visible range of 8 nautical miles. When the weather affords low-visibility, one can hear the station's fog horn – sounding a single blast for two seconds, and repeating every 15 seconds – as it seems to call out for its nearly-identical closest neighbor, the Wood End Light.
The Drake Park Neighborhood Historic District is located adjacent to Drake Park near the historic downtown area in Bend, Oregon, United States. Because of the unique and varied architecture in the Drake Park neighborhood and its close association with the early development of the city of Bend, the area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The Jedediah Higgins House is a historic house on Higgins Hollow Road in North Truro, Massachusetts. It is one of the least altered 19th-century Cape style houses in the Cape Cod National Seashore, and an excellent early example of that style. It is a 1+1⁄2-story post-and-beam house, whose front facade typifies the Cape style: a central doorway flanked by windows on either side. Its interior floor plan is also typical, with two rooms on the south side and one large one to the north, with a central chimney. Interior finishes have also been preserved, including wood flooring, paneling, and wainscoting.
The Three Sisters of Nauset are a trio of historic lighthouses off Cable Road in Eastham, Massachusetts. The original three brick towers fell into the sea due to erosion in 1890 and were replaced with wooden towers on brick foundations in 1892. The Sisters were decommissioned in 1911 but one of them, the Beacon, was moved back from the shoreline and attached to the keeper's house. It continued to operate but was replaced by a new steel tower, the Nauset Light, in 1923.
Rosedale Park is a historic district located in Detroit, Michigan. It is roughly bounded by Lyndon, Outer Drive, Grand River Avenue, Southfield Freeway, Glastonbury Avenue, Lyndon Street and Westwood Drive. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The Rosedale Park district has the largest number of individual properties of any district nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan, with 1533.
The Boyd Avenue Historic District is a residential district comprising 80 houses in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The district includes the circa 1776 Aspen Hall and the associated Mendenhall's Fort of circa 1756. The district extends along Boyd Avenue 1,500 feet (460 m) from West Race Street to Aspen Hall. The older section of the street is a single 40-foot (12 m) right-of-way, while the newer portion is boulevarded, with a grassed median between two separate roads. The older section is significant from about 1888 to 1914, while the newer portion is significant from 1914 to the 1950s.
The Hi-Mount Historic District is a historic neighborhood located two miles north of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. The eleven-block district, developed between 1938 and 1951, is one of the city's best-preserved twentieth century speculative neighborhoods. The district encompasses 168 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site. Most of Hi-Mount's homes are Minimal Traditional in style, followed by Cape Cod and Ranch homes with sparse detailing. A small number of developers were involved with the district and the district also benefited from government housing financing programs such as the Federal Housing Administration and the Veteran's Administration, resulting in architectural consistency throughout the neighborhood.
Ellerslie is a historic plantation house located near Linden, Cumberland County, North Carolina. It was built about 1790, and is a 1 1/2-story, six bay by two bay, Georgian style frame dwelling with a two-story Greek Revival style addition. It features a wide shed porch with plastered cove ceiling.
Alton Lennon Federal Building and Courthouse, also known as the Customs House, is a historic Federal building and courthouse located at Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina. It was designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect under James A. Wetmore and built between 1916 and 1919. It is an imposing three-story, Classical Revival style light sandstone building. It consists of a central mass with balanced projecting wings having engaged pedimented porticos. The design of the front facade of the earlier 1840s customs house is incorporated into the projecting wings to the cast iron details. The building measures 332 feet by 113 feet. The building was named for U.S. Congressman and Senator Alton Lennon (1906-1986) in 1976. It was used as the outside of the courthouse on seasons 7-9 of Andy Griffith's TV series Matlock on ABC.
The Wilmington Historic District is a national historic district located at Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 875 contributing buildings 38 contributing sites, and 3 contributing structures in the historic core and surrounding residential sections of Wilmington. The district developed after Wilmington was laid out in 1737, and includes notable examples of Queen Anne and Bungalow/American Craftsman style architecture. Located in the district are the separately listed City Hall/Thalian Hall and Alton Lennon Federal Building and Courthouse. Other notable buildings include:
Mordecai Place Historic District is a historic neighborhood and national historic district located at Raleigh, North Carolina. The district encompasses 182 contributing buildings and 1 contributing object in the most architecturally varied of Raleigh's early-20th century suburbs for the white middle-class. Mordecai Place was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 1998, with a boundary increase in 2000.
The Springwells Park Historic District is a historic residential neighborhood located in Dearborn, Michigan and bounded by Rotunda Drive, the Michigan Central Railroad line, and Greenfield and Eastham Roads. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.