Do you ever wonder about the names of towns or cities? How and why did they get their names? What is the history or meaning behind their names?
Here are six places in the Wilmington area that were once known by another name.
Southport
The city of Southport was originally named Smithville. In 1792 to honor Benjamin Smith, a colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, the town was named Smithville. In 1887, Smithville was renamed to Southport in hopes to rebrand it as a shipping port for the area.
There are at least two nods to the former name seen today: the Old Smithville Burying Ground, one of Southport’s oldest graveyards and contains graves dating back to the 1700s, and Smithville District Park, located on River Road, S.E.
Wilmington
Wilmington founded in the 1730s, had a succession of names in its earliest years ― New Carthage, New Liverpool, New town or Newton and finally Wilmington. It was named Wilmington in 1739/40 in honor of Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, and patron of Royal Governor Gabriel Johnston. Wilmington is a port city and the county seat of New Hanover County.