Built in 1770, the Burgwin-Wright House is the only structure in Wilmington, North Carolina, from the colonial era open to the public. Built for merchant, planter and government official John Burgwin, all rooms are furnished with 18th and 19th century antiques and showcase hundreds of objects. Built on the original walls of a former city jail, , it retains many vestiges of its previous incarnation such as outdoor and sub-basement jail cells and a freestanding kitchen house with a massive hearth. Occupying two acres, the colonial style gardens consist of seven distinct areas, including an orchard with pomegranate and fig trees, a kitchen garden and a rose garden.
History 1770–1799 John Burgwin was born in Hereford, England on February 25, 1730, as the second son to the senior John Burgwin. Burgwin's father promised the family estate to the elder son James so he was forced to make his own fortune. He first pursued his degree at Cambridge University.Lower Cape Fear Historical Society Bulletin, “The Burgwin-Wright House,” Wilmington, NC, Feb. 1979: 1. Burgwin arrived in Charleston, South Carolina sometime in the year 1750.New Hanover County Deed Book C, 259. He had letters of introduction on him from his father addressed to a friend he knew, George Inglis. By early 1751, Burgwin was employed by the office of Hooper, Alexander & Co.Samuel Ashe, Stephen Weeks, Charles Van Noppen, Biographical History of North Carolina: From the Colonial Times to the Present, Vol. VIII, Charles L. Van Noppen Publisher, Greensboro, NC: 1917, 58. Soon after, Burgwin was sent by his employers to Wilmington for business and there became acquainted with Miss Margaret Haynes, daughter of the wealthy planter and merchant Captain Roger Haynes and Margaret Haynes. John and Margaret Haynes were married on 15 February 1753.New Hanover County Deed Book R, 175. Two years later, Margaret's mother transferred a thousand-acre plantation dubbed The Hermitage to her son-in-law. They lived there together until 1770, when Mrs. Burgwin died without having any children.
As a member of the provincial elite, John Burgwin was the recipient of many political appointments. He held the position of quartermaster for the New Hanover County militia in 1754, and was recommended for promotion to Cornet by his Captain William Mackenzie in 1755.Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 22, 383. Between 1756 and 1759 he served as clerk of the Bladen County Court, and from 1758 to 1761 he practiced law as an attorney commissioned before the Cumberland County Court. He became clerk of the governor's council in 1760, a position he held until 1772.Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 9, 762. By 1762, he was serving as private secretary to Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs, possibly until the governor's death in 1765. He was appointed Clerk of the Superior Court of Justices for the District of Wilmington in mid-1768.Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 7, 984. In 1767 he was appointed Treasurer of the Province of North Carolina and held this office under Governors Tryon and Martin.Wilmington Town Book, 189. Governor Tryon appointed him Register of the Court of Chancery in May 1769, and the next day appointed him Master of the High Court of Chancery.Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 9, 750-770.
Other public positions Burgwin held included Wilmington town commissioner from 1769–75 and member of the General Assembly in Bladen County in 1773. He was also named Justice of the Peace for Bladen County in 1762 and for New Hanover County in 1764, made possible by the fact that his Marsh Castle property was located near Lake Waccamaw and allowed him to claim residency in both counties.Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. 25, 401. On April 27, 1782, Burgwin married Elizabeth Bush, known as Eliza while in England. She was the youngest daughter of George Bush of Bristol, England, and came from a family of Quakers who lived at Ashley Barn in Gloucestershire.Biographical Sketches, 12. John was forty-seven and Elizabeth was twenty-five when they became engaged, but Burgwin was apparently hopelessly in love.To see the relationship between Burgwin and Bush, see the Eliza Clitherall Diaries. Many letters between the couple are recorded by their daughter and start in 1777 when Burgwin first travelled to England after he broke his leg. In 1784 the Burgwins returned to America after leaving their son John Fanning Burgwin in the care of his grandmother. They landed in Charleston on April 9, and that night their daughter Caroline Elizabeth was born.Jones, 23. In 1787 George William Bush Burgwin was born at The Hermitage. Eliza was subsequently very ill, and in her diary Caroline recalled that “it was deemed advisable to remove [her] mother to their town house in Wilmington” so as to “more readily receive medical aid.” But it was of no use and Elizabeth died on October 19, 1787.Clitherall Diary, 40-42.
Of his several homes, the only one that survives is that in downtown Wilmington, known today as the Burgwin-Wright House. It is believed that Burgwin purchased the lot at the corner of Market and Third St. in Wilmington's city center in 1769. The corner had been occupied since 1744 as the main jail in Wilmington, spelled "gaol" at the time. The structure was decommissioned by 1769,While 1768 was the date given for a fire that destroyed part of the jail, the building was recorded in the same location (Market and Third) on the Sauthier Map done in 1769. There is also a record in the New Hanover Court minutes from October 9, 1772 about a fire that destroyed the jail, but the actual timeline of when the events occurred is not given. after which the town constructed a new jail in a different location, leaving the land remained largely vacant except for the ballast stone walls of the earlier structure.The location can be found labeled "gaol" on the Sautier map of Wilmington 1769, and several records in the Colonial records mention its building in 1744 and its existence until the fire.
It is likely that Burgwin wanted the prominent spot to build a house from which to conduct business while in town. Local historians have interpreted deeds to suggest that Burgwin was occupying the house by 1771.North Carolina Register of Deeds, New Hanover County When Burgwin acquired the property, he acquired the remains of three original buildings that had been in connection with the 1744 city jail.Colonial and State Records of North Carolina One of these was the building upon which John Burgwin built his house. The second was a brick structure with two archways built into the structure that served as debtor cells, which had large, iron bars placed over the front for which to contain the prisoners. Remnants of some of the original iron can still be seen. The third building was possibly utilized as the residence for the jailer, who lived on site, and a family if he had one.
Unlike his main plantation house, the Burgwin-Wright was built first and foremost as a town house; the house was where Burgwin could conduct business and entertain while in town. Because of this, the house was meant to impress potential business partners and social peers. It was considered rude at this time to talk about how well your business was doing, so instead they showed it through their homes and furnishings.Alan Watson, Society in Colonial North Carolina, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources: Raleigh, NC, 1996, 47-50. The house was used to entertain other wealthy families, business associates, and new merchants who traveled in the warmer months of the year. It also allowed the whole family to enjoy the activities in town such as balls and to see the new merchandise in the stores while escaping disease that plagued the plantations in the summer months. In the wintertime, only the head of the family and possibly his older sons came to town to conduct necessary business. The rest of the family remained at the main plantation or visited relatives in other areas.See references to the use of houses within town by wealthy members of society in Watson’s Society in Colonial North Carolina, pp. 47-51, 122-127 as well as in Martha Zierden and Elizabeth Reitz’s Charleston: An Archaeology of Life in a Coastal Community, University Press of Florida, 2016, pp. 140-151.
John Burgwin built his house primarily in the Georgian style defined by its symmetry and sense of refined beauty. Georgian elements can also be seen in the fact that the façade of the house was originally identical to the back; there is a large front door with two windows on each either side that is mirrored by a large backdoor with two windows as well. The columns along the front of the house are also mirrored along the back.See characteristics of Georgian architecture in Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture (Butterworths, London: 1987) as well as Sir John Summerson’s Georgian London (Barrie & Jankins, London: 1945). A prominent feature of the exterior of Burgwin's townhouse is the piazza. Architectural historian Catherine Bishir notes that they were important social spaces. While Charleston often had their piazzas secluded behind walls, in North Carolina they often projected into the streets. This made them a part of a shared community life, and allowed visitors to be seen by all members of the community.Bishir, Architecture of North Carolina, 35.
Bishir also comments on the need for ventilation in coastal North Carolina, which she argues motivated some, including Burgwin, to adapt the Georgian style based on the architecture of the Caribbean. Many Carolina settlers had early starts in this tropical region, or had roots that extended to the area. That, coupled with the constant trade with the area for enslaved peoples, sugar, molasses, and other necessities, influenced the architectural elements seen in Wilmington today. Such elements includes the wide hallways to allow breezes to flow through the structure, tall ceilings, the prominent piazzas, an attic that allowed for rising heat to move away from living quarters, and a raised elevation.Bishir, architects and builders, 54.
The Burgwin-Wright house is elevated off of the street to stay above the constant flooding that plagued colonial Wilmington. While practical, the raised structure also allows the occupants to catch a breeze off of the water, as well as allow cross-breezes to travel through the house with large open windows and doors much more easily than houses at a lower elevation. In an era before electricity, natural sunlight was of course highly desired. A raised elevation also allows sunlight to enter the rooms without being obstructed by trees and bushes. The addition of windows and doors across from each other to allow a cross breeze to blow through the house. Large hallways allow hot air to easily travel through the open spaces, and a curved upper ceiling allows the hot air to travel easily into an attic space.Bishir, Architects and Builders in North Carolina, 9-10.
1799–1930