Airlie Gardens

While you are at Wrightsville Beach take a day trip to Airlie Gardens! The gardens are in all their glory right now and Garden Tours are available.

Generations of locals and tourists travel to the historic property with its beautiful azaleas, dogwoods, camellias and various annuals bring a splash of color to the waterside oaks and pines.

A 67-acre county park, Airlie Gardens garnered nationwide fame for its spectacular plantings, which at one time included more than 600,000 azalea bushes and more than 5,000 camellias.

The most famous couple to originally owned the property were J. Pembroke Jones, a wealthy rice trader, and wife Sarah (Sadie) Jones, who bought a 150-acre tract in 1886. They named their estate “Airlie,” after the ancestral Scottish home of Jones’ family.

After the Joneses’ deaths, the Airlie property passed to the Corbett family in 1948. Bertha and Waddell Corbett operated the gardens as a private tourist attraction for many years. In 1999, in cooperation with the N.C. Coastal Land Trust, New Hanover County acquired Airlie from the Corbetts at a cost of $10.5 million.

Attractions include the gigantic Airlie Oak, estimated to be more than 460 years old, the Pergola Fountain and plantings arranged to bloom year-round.

The property known as Airlie was part of a 640-acre land grant from King George II to the Ogden brothers in 1735; by the 1800s much of the original acreage had been transferred to Joshua Grainger Wright.
It was not until the arrival of Sarah Jones, wife of Pembroke Jones, that a formal garden was created. The Joneses were wealthy industrialists noted for their lavish entertaining.

They used Airlie as a means to accommodate their guests and parties.

Sarah Jones began planting the property in 1901 and later in 1906 commissioned German landscape architect Rudolf Topel to transform the tract into a picturesque garden. Airlie reached its peak during the 1920s, at which time it was reported that over a half million azaleas and 5,000 camellias were in the garden; many of these plants still bloom and thrive in the garden. The 67-acres of today’s Airlie are all that remain of the original 155-acre estate.
The Corbett Family purchased the Airlie property from the Joneses in 1948 and used the gardens as a primary residence. Local business owners with strong ties to the community, the Corbetts would open the garden to the public several seasons throughout the year, especially in the spring during azalea bloom. In 1999 the family sold the property to New Hanover County.

Today, Airlie is a local treasure as one of the last undeveloped land tracts along Bradley Creek. The gardens are undergoing restoration and are now preserved for public use.

Regular season hours at Airlie are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., seven days a week. During spring bloom season (April 3-May 17), the gardens stay open till 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Winter hours (Jan. 2-March 19) are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Cost: Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children aged 6-12. Children younger than 6 are admitted free.

Sounds of Summer Concerts

Bring a picnic and enjoy a music-filled day in Wrightsville Beach Park. Sponsored by WECT and hosted by Wrightsville Beach Parks & Recreation. In the event of rain, concerts will be held the following Thursdays. In the event of rain, concerts will be held the following Thursdays. Wrightsville Beach Park, 1 Bob Sawyer Drive, Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480

Date & Time		Event title	Watching
Jun 10		Jason Marks Band
Jun 24		Da Howlies
Jul 8		Big Al Hall& The Marching Rams
Aug 5		360 Degrees

Airlie Gardens Concert Series

While at Wrightsville Beach check out some great jazz music and the relaxing atmosphere every first Friday from May through October at The Airlie Garden’s Concert Series. Chill out out beneath the branches of the Airlie Oak as the area’s premier jazz musicians perform every first Friday from 6 to 8pm.

Make sure you bring your dancing shoes…  because the music likely to get your feet moving as you enjoy an evening of great dance music.

Airlie Gardens Concert Series is the perfect place to kick back and enjoy a picnic, a favorite beverage. Bring a comfy chair or blanket and then relax, let the music take you away.

Now you’re ready for an awesome evening with your family and friends at the Airlie Gardens Concert Series. Call 910.798.7700 or email airlieinfo@nhcgov.com for more information.
Airlie Gardens
300 Airlie Rd
Wilmington, NC 28403
www.airliegardens.org

Descendent Buys Orton!

A direct descendent of Roger Moore, who built the original Orton Plantation home in 1725 is the new owner of the antebellum plantation house and the gardens!

Louis Moore Bacon, who now resides in London but was born in Raleigh, has purchased almost the entire 5,000-acre property – including the historic plantation house and its famous gardens – from the Laurence Sprunt family who have owned the Brunswick County landmark since 1884.

The Plantation and Gardens will close indefinitely on May 31st while plans for the future and other renovations are made. Hurry to see this incredible place while this years gardens are still available to you!

Current Orton manager David Sprunt, will retain that position, said the family has kept the land around the plantation’s pond.

He said he’s excited about the plans for the plantation, but it is hard for the property leave his family’s ownership after all of these years.

A press release states that Bacon is directly descended from Roger Moore, who built the original Orton residence in 1725. Bacon’s mother’s family has strong ties to nearby Wilmington.

Many are relieved to hear that Mr. Bacon has a reputation for buying historic properties such as Orton Plantation and keeping them in their natural state. Also the N.C. Coastal Land Trust holds conservation easements covering much of the Orton property. The executive director of the Land Trust states that Bacon is noted as a conservationist and a supporter of numerous environmental organizations.

Forbes magazine notes Bacon, age 53, is a native of North Carolina who manages several hedge funds and now resides in London, and the London Sunday Times notes that that he is the richest hedge fund manager in Britain having a nearly $1.7 billion fortune.

Orton Plantation, which recently opened for the 2010 season, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the gardens. Extensive renovations were made in the gardens to open up panoramic views to the Cape Fear River, remove competing vegetation, redesign and enhance the flower beds and restore and preserve the colonial rice fields.

Among the predominant species in the garden are live oaks, camellias, azaleas, flowering fruit trees, daphne, hydrangeas, crape myrtles, dogwoods, and colorful spring and summer annuals. Lawns and water gardens lend variety to the lush vegetation.

Plan to come spend a day at Orton Plantation! The gardens are in their glory right now! The historic landscape designed around the 1735 mansion and colonial rice fields overlooking the Cape Fear River and 20 acres of secluded walking trails surrounded by hundreds of acres of rice fields make Orton Plantation Gardens a wonderful place to visit.

One of the oldest plantations on the Lower Cape Fear and the only one with a manor house still standing, Orton has become a privately owned tourist attraction, celebrated for its elaborate gardens. In recent years, the plantation and its grounds have served as locations on a number of motion pictures.

The house and grounds are located at 9149 Orton Road S.E., Brunswick County just off N.C. 133, close to the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site.

Get directions click here!

Hours are 8am to 5pm March – August and 10am – 5pm September – November (except they close for Thanksgiving Day).