They’ve weathered plenty of storms and challenging conditions over the centuries as they tell the story of Wilmington’s rich history. Even so, it’s been quite a month for two of the region’s most historic spots, both of which are adapting to an environment being influenced by climate change.
In southern New Hanover County on the eastern bank of the Cape Fear River, officials recently celebrated the grand opening of the new visitor center at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site .
The new 20,000-square-foot center, which can handle more than 1 million visitors, is three times the size of the old one built in the mid-1960s to handle 25,000 or so visitors. The $25.5 million center, which has been more than a decade in the making for the popular tourist attraction at the county’s southern tip, also includes a second-floor multipurpose room that can be rented out for special events − an increasingly important revenue stream for the agency.
In a nod to the Civil War-era site’s exposed position with nearby water on two sides, the new visitors center also has a significantly higher elevation than the building it replaced to help it deal with tidal and storm-driven flooding − something that’s expected to get worse in coming decades due to climate change. A rock revetment was built in the 1990s on the site’s oceanside to protect historic areas and U.S. 421 from encroaching erosion.