When you glance at Bellamy Mansion, you’ll see antebellum architecture and design, like the towering columns, wrap around porch and engraved frame to the porcelain door. If you peek into the home’s windows, you’ll find a hidden history that lies within the arched windows and well-lit corridors.
Bellamy Mansion was not always a museum, but since it was built it has held the core of the Port City’s history. The home was built for Dr. Dillard Bellamy and his large family during the years leading up to the Civil War.
Dr. Bellamy chose its location because he could clearly see his business productions going in and out of the port at the riverfront, from his rooftop room purposefully made for this reason. His daughters helped design the house, choosing forest-tall columns and a wrap-around porch. African Americans, both free and enslaved, helped to bring the plan to life, ensuring the inclusion of specific architectural designs, including marble fireplaces and the open floor plan.
Through these windows, the Bellamy family witnessed the yellow fever tear through the city as well as the drastic changes that were happening due to the Civil War. After the family decided to escape Wilmington to ensure their safety, the home was invaded and dubbed the headquarters of the federal troops during the war.
Slavery was a prominent issue during the Civil War era and was something that the Bellamy family believed in, although Dr. Bellamy was known to always treat his slaves with respect. He built slave quarters on the property, which included bathrooms and bedrooms for the help.
“He saw slavery to be a sacred trust,” Eric Johann, a tour guide of Bellamy Mansion, said. “He made sure that anybody that was living here had their medical needs tended to, which he did personally himself. He hired a Wesleyan minister from Kentucky to give them all of their birthrights, death rights, to marry them if need be.”
Race and integration issues, such as slavery and segregation, continued a century after the Civil War when the Bellamy’s home was set on fire in 1972. No one was charged with the crime, but it is believed that the fire was set in response to the integration of public schools just a year earlier. Unlike other related acts of arson, the house was able to extinguish itself due to thought-out fireproofing, but full restoration was required.
This is one of the many ways the house stood the test of time. Through societal changes and key transitions in American history, the house remained an icon in downtown Wilmington. These changes, however, raised concerns about the preservation of the Bellamy home.
Ellen Bellamy, one of Dillard’s children, lived in the house until she died at the age of 96 in 1946. As she neared her final years, she feared that her beloved home would be torn down because it had fallen into a state of disrepair. She saw apartment complexes go up and believed that Wilmington’s growth would result in her homes destruction.
As Ellen spent the majority of her life in this home, she witnessed the industrial transitions that the city of Wilmington was experiencing. Looking out of her bedroom window, she saw transportation change from horse and buggy to the first automobile. She experienced war switch from simple artillery to the complexities of the atomic bomb.
Nearly 40 years after her death, repairs began and small tours were given through a program that was started by friends and heirs of the Bellamy family. A few years later, in 1994, Bellamy Mansion was fully opened to the public. Because of local interest and support, tours began and restorations increased which helped in upholding its history.
The mansion gives at least five tours a day, and is enjoyed by tourists, visitors and educational tours, which include students from schools in the area. Through the tours, people hear the stories of the events that were seen through these windows.
“It epitomizes the rise and deterioration of things over time and the change of people and periods,” visitor Beverly Tyler said. “It depicts the way of life of a group of people that we really have lost.”
For museum-goers like Tyler, they understand the significance in preserving homes that hold an abundance of history. Bellamy mansion has a unique quality to it that sets it apart from other historical features in the Port City.
“Bellamy Mansion is very unique in its own sense,”Chloe Gatton, an information assistant for the public, said. “No other house is quite like it in Wilmington--it’s a cultural center for people to get together.”
This is exemplified by the quilts hanging on exhibit in Bellamy this month. Though not historic artifacts, they were made by local artists, and show the ability the house has in remaining relevant as the years pass.
Although there are many old houses in Historic Downtown Wilmington, the Bellamy Mansion is symbolic of the town’s role in history and still maintains a presence with it’s story, while the city around it changes over time.
Those who have helped the museum grow have turned a historic home into a museum, wedding venue and a destination for events of all kinds. (hyperlink)Gareth Evans, the executive director, attributes that to the home as a whole.
“It’s a landmark,” he said. “Where it stands is easily one of the most recognizable places in the city.”
Bellamy’s successful renovation has encouraged other historic properties to complete restorations. Not only does preservation help keep history intact, but it brings in more value than a demolishment would, according to Evans.
“Bringing back something this iconic gave people a lot of hope for restoration,” Evans said. “Lots of things in the ‘80s were being fixed up, but this served as an anchor project.”
Visitor Beverly Tyler said that by looking at what the past has held, citizens get the ability to see what lies in the future. She believes that it is important for whoever lives in Wilmington to learn the history of where they are at and what it meant to people before their time. Tyler believes that preservations can make an impact on a community.
Those who encourage visiting preserved landmarks, such as the Bellamy Mansion, realize that without these places in tact, history would eventually be forgotten over time.
“It’s different from other museums in the fact that it doesn’t concentrate on the items inside of the property, but it focuses on the home itself, the building itself and the grounds,” Gatton said.
Walking the grounds, or through rooms in the house, visitors can connect to national historic events. The Civil War and Civil Rights movement caused physical marks such as burns from the fire that allow a more personal look into how these left marks on people’s lives.
