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).

Take A Break Romance Special for Two with breakfast and Free Golf!!

Just $99 per night for two people

(Sunday through Thursday nights only)

Summer: 7/1 – 7/29/10 No Minimum Stay!

Fall: 8/15 – 9/1/10 No Minimum Stay!

Call 800.334.3581 for reservations!
The The Winds Resort Beach Club’s Take A Break Special package includes accommodations in an Island View Camellia Guest Room with a wetbar and refrigerator, a full hot Southern breakfast buffet each morning, daily housekeeping, complimentary use of bicycles and discounts to area restaurants and shops.

• Add Dinner For Two for $65.00 (gratuities not included) at choice of 3 nearby restaurants:

Roberto’s Italian Ristorante:
Dinner Includes: Two Entrees (special menu for Winds Guests), Bottle of House Wine, Salad, Dessert, Non-alcoholic Beverages.

Sharky’s Waterfront Restaurant (overlooking the intra-coastal waterway)
Dinner Includes: Two Entrees (any menu item), 4 Glasses of House Wine, Salad, Dessert, Non-alcoholic Beverages.

Cinelli’s Italian Restaurant(overlooking the intra-coastal waterway):
Dinner Includes: Two Entrees (any menu item – except steak), Bottle of House Wine, Salad, Dessert, Non-alcoholic Beverages.

Bourbon Street:
Any two entrees on the menu, two sides per entree, a bottle of wine and choice of dessert at table side.

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Also be sure to check out our FREE SUMMER GOLF – 6/01/2010 to 8/31/2010

The best golf value at the coast, is at The Winds Resort Beach Club! With rates that include a full hot Southern Breakfast Buffet each day there is no better golf value around!

We’re talking free green fees for all Winds’ guests on a selection of top area courses FREE!

All you pay in, addition to your regular lodging rates, is carts and tax.

Call 800.334.3581 for reservations!

Courses include: Carolina Shores, Meadowlands, Farmstead, Palmetto Greens, Eagles Nest (pm), Carolina National (after p.m.), Sea Trail’s Willard Byrd (after p.m.), Sea Trail’s Maples Course (after p.m.) Valley at Eastport (after p.m.) ]]> http://wrightsville-beachnc.com/island-escape-package/feed/ 0 http://wrightsville-beachnc.com/local-authors-books-huge-hit/ http://wrightsville-beachnc.com/local-authors-books-huge-hit/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:18:08 +0000 gary http://wrightsville-beachnc.com/?p=298 Local Author and Illustrator Miller Pope has spent a lifetime as an artist meanwhile gathering a encyclopedic knowledge of history on a local as well as global level! Now he has retired and is sharing all his knowledge and talent as an artist in a series of books that are gaining rave reviews. You can read all about Miller Pope and buy his books at his website: http://MillerPope.com!

Confessions of a Madman

A life lived through the years of the greatest change in human history, a tale of the Camelot period among the canyons of Madison Ave. and the publishing world in New York and Boston through the eyes of an illustrator.

A story that spans eighty years beginning in the Appalachian hills of Tennessee and evolving into the fast-paced world of art and advertising on Madison Avenue. Follow along and experience life in the upper strata of New York City society during the days when the Martini lunch ruled.

“From Madison Avenue to Island Sands” is one of those rare, thoroughly entertaining autobiographies that works because, unlike many autobiographies, it isn’t about a celebrity or a politician, but about a regular guy who has lived life to the fullest and then some.

In some respects, it’s a tale of two islands: Manhattan and a little place off the coast of North Carolina called Ocean Isle.” Lynn Jessup – The Wilmington Star News

Tales of the Silver Coast

A Secret History Of Brunswick County – From the earliest days of European exploration to the golf courses and beach resorts in this fascinating and fast-growing region, Brunswick County has attracted settlers, invaders, and visitors of all descriptions.

“Miller has done an exceptional job keeping the tone light while still being informative. Each story is only two to three pages long, with illustrations liberally spread throughout, making it perfect for children. Young and old will love the story of the Barefoot Felon, where a captain uses a simple trick to save his ship from pirates.”

- Brunswick Alive! Magazine

Miller Pope’s Book Of Pirates

From Captain Kidd to Blackbeard to the pirates of the orient . . . From bloody battles to walking the plank- from blunderbusses to cutlasses, With nearly 150 original illustrations, this volume is sure to please and inform pirate fans of all ages.

• Race for Riches: a history of the origins of piracy
• Greed and Gold: a pirate’s life aboard ship and in battle
• Tools of the Trade: weapons, vessels, and pirate culture
• Rogues and Raiders: profiles of pirates through history
• Other Pirates, Other Times: the past and future of piracy
• A Roster of Infamy: a list of pirates and their vessels

“The illustrations are incredible, from the actual pirates to their ships, battles, maps, tools of the trade and treasures. For every generations’ fascination with pirates and the exotic and exciting life they supposedly led, this book will satisfy that hunger for the actual and imagined part of pirate lore.
Miller Pope is as exceptional a writer as he is an illustrator, writing with the visual in mind, always crafting his words from an illustrators’ perspective and then backing that image up with the very picture the words so masterfully created.”

- Island Living Magazine

Drawing BC-Before Computers

This hot off the press book describes and illustrates the techniques of illustration during the mid-century days before the reign of color television and computers when great short story magazines ruled.

In these pages artists may find inspiration and those who remember the simpler times of the decades following the second World War will find nostalgia for a bygone time.

Younger people who were born into the world of color television and computers may discover in these pages a glimpse into the past.

Drawing techniques of Illustration’s Golden Age. Miller Pope relates the techniques and mediums used by some of the finest illustrators before the rise of computers in the world of publishing.

“Before moving to Ocean Isle Beach, Miller Pope (”Tales of the Silver Coast,” “Miller Pope’s Book of Pirates”) was a top illustrator in New York publishing, working for advertising agencies in the “Mad Men” era and creating artwork for The Saturday Evening Post, Reader’s Digest and other publications, as well as a number of textbooks.

He recalls those days in “Drawing B.C.” as in Before Computers (Island Press, $16.95 paperback). Pope demonstrates techniques that he and other commercial artists used in predigital days to get eye catching effects that conveyed the message. (Helpful hint: “Less is More.”).

Younger artists can learn a trick or two; the rest of us will be transported into a color-filled retro-world.”

- Ben Steelman The Wilmington Star News, Wilmington, NC

Buy them at MillerPope.com

Books by local Author, Illustrator – Miller Pope! Buy them at MillerPope.com

This, the second in a series of historically accurate and lushly illustrated pirate books, relates the incredible lives of some of history’s most infamous pirates.

Each pirate ’s story features a unique illustration of the pirate. Visit MillerPope.com to see more and purchase his books!

Stede Bonnet, “The gentleman pirate”
Stede Bonnet was the most unlikely pirate of them all. He had been an army major before becoming a wealthy sugar plantation owner and he was among the best society on the island of Barbados. For some reason he left all this and bought a ship, hired a crew and embarked on a career of piracy.

In pirate circles it was unheard of to buy a ship instead of just stealing one. He recruited about seventy destitute seamen from the taverns and grogshops of Barbados.

Bonnet was a landlubber with virtually no knowledge of the sea. He explained that he had purchased his ship for pursuing inter-island trade and for several days his ship remained at anchor. But one night, he raised sail without a word to his friends or his wife and slipped out to sea, bound for the Virginia Capes. There he captured a few vessels.

The first of these were only plundered, but the last ship named the Turbes was burned. From then on every Barbadian ship taken by him was burned, as if he wanted leave his mark.

Bonnet captured more prizes off the New England Coast and returned to the south. Meanwhile however, the crew, were slowly becoming hostile because of Bonnet’s inexperience. During this time of increasing hostilities Bonnet anchored his ship, the Revenge, in the Bay of Honduras. There he encountered the Queen Anne’s Revenge under the command of Edward Teach, nicknamed “Blackbeard”. The two pirates quickly became friends and this odd duo, consisting of a veteran and an amateur, decided to join forces.

This was a big mistake for Bonnet because when Teach became aware of Bonnet’s inexperience, he invited Bonnet aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, where Bonnet became almost a prisoner.

Teach tried to convince Bonnet that he would be more comfortable in the spacious quarters of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Teach told him that a man of his education and mannerisms, should not undergo the rigors of commanding a ship like the Revenge. Soon one of Blackbeard’s lieutenants assumed command of the Revenge. Bonnet could do little about the matter. The Revenge’s new master gained the crew’s confidence quickly stifled any threat of mutiny by imposing stern discipline.

Bonnet eventually convinced Blackbeard to allow him to assume command of the Revenge again. The two parted company soon after that.

Bonnet sailed his ship to the town of Bath and turned himself in to the Governor of North Carolina, Charles Eden, as a reformed pirate. Despite this act however Bonnet still had a yen for Piracy and resumed scouring the sea for prey until his capture at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, near a quaint little town called Southport.

A narrow road that parallels the river heading north from the town center crosses a small creek after a short distance.

Beside the creek, almost unnoticed, rests a small marker with a metal plaque bearing the following inscription:

“BONNET’S CREEK . . . Stede Bonnet, the ‘Gentleman Pirate’ used the mouth of this creek as a hide-out for his vessel, the Royal James formerly called Revenge. Here on September 26, 1718, the great Battle of the Sand Bars was fought between the pirates and the men sent to capture them under the command of Col. William Rhett aboard the Henry and Sea Nymph. After a twenty-four hour battle there were nineteen men killed, twenty-three wounded, and Bonnet, with the remains of his pirate crew, surrendered. On November 8,1718, twenty-nine pirates were hanged in Charleston, S.C.’”

A few weeks later, Gentleman Stede Bonnet holding a cluster of flowers in his manacled hands, met the same fate as his crewmembers on the gallows.

If you enjoyed this excerpt click here to read more about Miller Pope and his other books. You can purchase his books right at the website: MillerPope.com

Generations of locals and tourists travel to the historic property with its beautiful antebellum plantation house. Azaleas, dogwoods, camellias and various annuals bring a splash of color to the riverside oaks and pines.

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.

When a cousin of the Sprunt family was seriously injured in an automobile accident In the late 1930s. Family members decided to open Orton plantation as a public garden for a long weekend to raise money for his medical bills, .

Visitors so enjoyed the gardens and grounds that the family continued to keep them open to the public. These days, the gardens are open each year, March through August and September through November.

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.

You can take the ferry at Ft Fisher over to Southport and then head North on Hwy 133 to Orton Plantation or to get higway directions click here!

With these six medals added to those won over the past six years the total awarded the winery comes to the 219 awards! Silver Coast Winery received bronze medals for its 2006 American Oak Chardonnay, 2005 Seyval Blanc and 2002 Merlot and silver medals for its Premium Oak Chardonnay, 2005 Reserve Merlot and 2004 Treasure.

Silver Coast Winery Winter hours (January & February) for tours and tastings are offered from noon to 5pm Wed – Sunday. For more info visit the winery’s site at: silvercoastwinery.com or call 910.287.2800

For more about the site read our archived story here!

Because of people’s fascination with these plants, they collected many of them and they became endangered. People in the Brunswick County area are lucky, in 2004, the Boiling Spring Lakes Nature Trail was completed, allowing visitors to walk through the trail and see the delicate plants first hand, while still protecting the Flytraps natural habitat. With over six thousand acres in size, The Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve is located in Brunswick County, NC in the city of Boiling Spring Lakes just off Highway 87. The trail begins at the Community Center. Visit the Nature Conservancy online at www.nature.org or calling the Nature Conservancy’s Wilmington Office at (910) 762-6277.

The leaves of Venus’ Flytrap open wide and on them are short, stiff hairs called trigger or sensitive hairs. When anything touches these hairs enough to bend them, the two lobes of the leaves snap shut trapping whatever is inside. The trap will shut in less than a second. The trap doesn’t close all of the way at first. It is thought that it stays open for a few seconds in order to allow very small insects to escape because they wouldn’t provide enough food. If the object isn’t food, e.g., a stone, or a nut, the trap will reopen in about twelve hours and ’spit’ it out.

When the trap closes over food, the cilia. finger-like projections, keep larger insects inside. Fold your hands together lacing your fingers to see what the trap looks like. In a few minutes the trap will shut tightly and form an air-tight seal in order to keep the digestive fluids inside and bacteria out.

Dionaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap) with the carcass of a partially digested insect. The exoskeleton of the insect can not be digested by the flytrap, so it remains when the leaf reopens.
If an insect is too large it will stick out of the trap. This allows bacteria and molds on the insect to thrive. Eventually the trap turns black, rots and falls off.

The trap constricts tightly around the insect and secretes digestive juices, much like those in your stomach. It dissolves the soft, inner parts of the insect, but not the tough, outer part called the exoskeleton. At the end of the digestive process, which takes from five to twelve days, the trap reabsorbs the digestive fluid and then reopens. The leftover parts of the insect, the exoskeleton, blow away in the wind or are washed away by rain. The time it takes for the trap to reopen depends on the size of the insect, temperature, the age of the trap, and the number of times it has gone through this process.

If you feed a Venus Flytrap something that doesn’t move, e.g., a dead insect, it will not close tightly over it. You need to squeeze the trap and move the food around so it imitates the action of a live insect.

The lobe manufactures digestive juices and an antiseptic juice. This keeps the insect from decaying over the few days it is in the trap and purifies prey that it captures.
carnivorous plants – Drosophyllum-4

People still do not understand fully how the trap closes. The Venus’ Flytrap does not have a nervous system or any muscles or tendons. Scientists theorize that it moves from some type of fluid pressure activated by an actual electrical current that runs through each lobe.