Sunset Park is a neighborhood south of the Historic Downtown of Wilmington

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

, in New Hanover County

New Hanover County, North Carolina

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 160,307 people, 68,183 households, and 41,591 families residing in the county. The population density was 806 people per square mile . There were 79,616 housing units at an average density of 400 per square mile...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 . It has been designated a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

"Sunset Park," a name submitted by Montrose Bain, circulation editor of the Wilmington Star, was the winning entry for a new 600 acres (2.4 km²) development just 3 miles (4.8 km) south of downtown Wilmington along the Federal Point Road (Carolina Beach Road). The prize for his submission was $10.00.

The Fidelity Trust & Development Company purchased the 600 acres (2.4 km²) tract on March 9, 1912. The original owner, T.F. Boyd of Hamlet, North Carolina, sold the land for $35,000.00. The Opening Sale of lots in Sunset Park to the public was originally Monday, September 16, 1912. The date was later postponed to Monday, October 7, 1912.

Sunset Park was envisioned by the Fidelity Development & Investment Company as a high-class, planned community with views overlooking the Cape Fear River

Cape Fear River

The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The overall water quality of the river is continuously measured and monitored by and conducted by the , , and the...

 and picturesque Greenfield Lake. All the city conveniences and modern improvements would be guaranteed by FD&I. Street car service, electric lights, gas, sewers, sidewalks and tree-lined Macadam

Macadam

Macadam is a type of road construction pioneered by the Scotsman John Loudon McAdam in around 1820. The method simplified what had been considered state-of-the-art at that point...

 type roadways and plazas just to name a few. The neighborhood is said to be modeled after that of Ansley Park

Ansley Park

Ansley Park is an affluent residential neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, located just east of Midtown and west of Piedmont Park. One of the first suburban neighborhoods in the city designed for automobiles, it features wide, winding roads rather than the grid pattern typical of older streetcar...

 and Westland Estates in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

.

Poem

In the October 5, 1912 edition of The Evening Dispatch was a pen drawing bird's eye view over Sunset Park along with a poem singing its praises.

Beyond the placid waters/Of Greenfield's lovely lake,

There lies as fair a region/As skillful hands can make.



It reaches to the 'Dram Tree',/Made famous long ago;

And many mounds and batt'ries/Its history will show.



Regardless of the prices/It costs to reach the mark,

We'll beautify the landscape/Of lovely Sunset Park.



With granolithic side-walks,/And streets macadamized,

We'll leave all other places/Neglected and despised.



Each man who owns a cottage,/That he can call his own,

Will be a little Monarch/That no one can dethrone.



Each lot will have its sewers,/To take the filth away;

And water-mains to furnish/The folks who come to stay.



The sun will shine in daylight,/Electric lights at dark;

We'll have a Fairy City/At lovely Sunset Park.



To each prospective buyer/We'll offer terms to please,

So that every one may purchase/A home with perfect ease.



No painter can portray it,/His brush would be too dark,

To give the glowing colors/of lovely SUNSET PARK.

Architecture in Sunset Park

The majority of resources were built from the 1910s to the 1960s and incorporate Queen Anne Style architecture

Queen Anne Style architecture

The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...

, Bungalow

Bungalow

A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...

/American Craftsman

American Craftsman

The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...

, Tudorbethan architecture

Tudorbethan architecture

The Tudor Revival architecture of the 20th century , first manifested itself in domestic architecture beginning in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 19th century based on a revival of aspects of Tudor style. It later became an influence in some other countries, especially the British colonies...

, Colonial Revival architecture

Colonial Revival architecture

The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...

, Cape Cod (house)

Cape Cod (house)

A Cape Cod cottage is a style of house originating in New England in the 17th century. It is traditionally characterized by a low, broad frame building, generally a story and a half high, with a steep, pitched roof with end gables, a large central chimney and very little ornamentation...

, Ranch-style house

Ranch-style house

Ranch-style houses is a domestic architectural style originating in the United States. First built in the 1920s, the ranch style was extremely popular amongst the booming post-war middle class of the 1940s to 1970s...

, and Commercial building

Commercial building

A commercial building is a building that is used for commercial use. Types can include office buildings, warehouses, or retail . In urban locations, a commercial building often combines functions, such as an office on levels 2-10, with retail on floor 1...

 styles of architecture. The earliest houses are scattered along Northern and Central boulevards; 1940 to 1950s Cape Cod and Ranch houses line the cross streets. Architecturally, the earliest designs are Queen Anne style, dating to the early 1910s. The two-story dwellings have hipped or gabled roofs, wraparound porches, corner towers, bay windows, projecting wings, wood or simulated siding, shingles, decorative brickwork, and a wide range of window types.

A large number of homes were built from 1940 to 1943 when the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company expanded its facilities on land intended for Sunset Park homes along the eastern edge of the Cape Fear River

Cape Fear River

The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The overall water quality of the river is continuously measured and monitored by and conducted by the , , and the...

.

The movie Blue Velvet had scenes filmed in Sunset Park including the house of Detective John Williams (George Dickerson

George Dickerson

George Dickerson is an American actor, writer, and poet.-Biography:Dickerson was born July 25, 1933, in Topeka, Kansas, to George Graf Dickerson, a lawyer, and Elizabeth Dickerson , parents he did not have a good relationship with. He has one brother, five years his junior...

). Season 9 of Matlock (TV series)

Matlock (TV series)

Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...

had scenes filmed in Sunset Park including Benjamin L. "Ben" Matlock's (Andy Griffith

Andy Griffith

Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...

) house.