For a century after its incorporation in 1740, Wilmington, North
Carolina remained a sleepy port city. Then, the coming of steam-power,
especially railroad and steamship, enabled a steady growth. War, whether
the Civil War with its blockade-runners or the shipbuilding born of the
world conflicts of the 1900s, brought more growth. With that expansion
came, of course, growing pains. The story of Wilmington, North Carolina
is a story of rivers, sounds, and sea, and of a city that grew near the
places where those waters mingled. It is the story of a port that became
the "Lifeline of the Confederacy" as well as the lifeline of a state.
And in this case, it is the story of over a hundred years of history
(1860s to 1970s) told through almost two hundred photographs--the
captured essences of people and events now lost.