Discover Wilson
Our vibrant community, with its award-winning revitalized downtown, offers live concerts on the lawn, festivals, a library, historic porch tours, walking tours and events for the whole family.
Vollis Simpson Whirligigs
Wilson is home of internationally known folk artist Vollis Simpson and his elaborate ‘Whirligigs’. The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, located downtown, is open to the public and features 30 of his unique sculptures with gardens, a farmer’s market, staging for outdoor entertainment and more. In fact, Wilson has the largest collection of Whirligigs anywhere in the world! A MUST SEE!
Photography & Arts
Eyes On Main Street is a large scale photography exhibit among downtown store front windows and buildings for 100 days in the Spring which is currently in its 11th Edition. The American Center for Photographers, ACP, is a photography gallery located at Whirligig Station and houses an annually rotational portfolio collection that features works by both national and International photographers.
NC Whirligig Festival
The NC Whirligig Festival, an event open to the public, is held each year during the first weekend in November. This festival was selected as a top 20 event by Southeast Tourism Society. You can browse arts and crafts from among 200 vendors along with live entertainment and kid-friendly attractions.
Buckhorn Lake
Buckhorn Lake, one of four lakes in Wilson County spans 2183 acres of water and 1850 acres of land. It’s ideal for nature lovers and offers biking, nature trails, hiking, fishing and boating.
Economic & Historical Information
Wilson is proud to be North Carolina’s Gigabyte City and is home to North Carolina’s only four term governor. Wilson was also known as the World’s Greatest Tobacco Market and today is still America’s largest tobacco market. Wilson attracts leading manufacturers, the industrial base being made up of pharmaceuticals, aerospace, and automotive manufacturing concerns. In fact, there are over 130 manufacturers in Wilson County.
Sports & Recreation
Wilson is known for its first class soccer & baseball facilities, having hosted the US Youth Soccer Southern Regional Championship games as well as hosting the NC Little League Division 6 Baseball Tournament and NC Little League State Tournament through its J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex. Enjoy the Wilson ‘Tobs’ Collegiate All-America Baseball Team as they play each season at the Historic Fleming Stadium. Wilson is also known for its three beautiful, challenging national golf courses as well as disc golf courses.
Education
Wilson is home to Barton College, a fully accredited, four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college located in the heart of town. Wilson Community College provides a variety of educational programs and college transfer programs as well as a new certified LEED Gold Green Building available for group tours.
Historic Districts & Walking Tours
Enjoy our unique architecture and rich heritage while strolling The Old Wilson Mile. The Wilson Visitors Center operates out of an historic home circa 1916 and is the start of the Historic Downtown Walking Tour. Wilson has over 2500 bungalows and five historic districts featured on the U.S Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. Three of those districts, Old Wilson, Broad-Kenan and West Nash became City Recognized Districts, working under the guidelines of the Historic Preservation Commission.
Contact Dana Corson, City of Wilson Preservationist, at 252-399-2225 or dcorson@wilsonnc.org. For Historic Tax Credits information, contact John Wood at 252-830-6580 or john.p.wood@ncdcr.gov.
Broad-Kenan Historic District
The Broad-Kenan Historic District symbolizes Wilson’s decades of expansion between 1890 and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The popular bungalow designs make up more than 60% of the residential neighborhood near downtown, with a sprinkling of Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival structures.
East Wilson Historic District
The East Wilson Historic District was developed between 1890 and 1940, and when listed, was identified as the largest working class African-American neighborhood in North Carolina. The area is predominantly residential and many one and two-story frame dwellings with standing-seam metal roofs.
West Nash Historic District
The West Nash Historic District was developed from 1900 through the 1920s and contains homes of some of the most successful merchants, professionals, planters and tobacconists. Colonial Revival and bungalows are the most prevalent styles in the district.
Tobacco Warehouse District
The Tobacco Warehouse District is the heart of the City of Wilson and Center City. Most of the architectural fabric in the district dates from the early twentieth century when the tobacco (and to a lesser extent, cotton) markets ushered Wilson into a period of unprecedented prosperity. The Wilson market opened on September 10, 1890 and by 1919 became the largest Bright Leaf Tobacco market in the world.
Museums & Gardens
Wilson is also known for its museums, which feature The North Carolina Baseball Museum, Imagination Station Science & History Museum, The NC Museum of The Coastal Plain, and The African American Roundhouse Museum. The Wilson Botanical Garden, the Children’s Secret Garden, The Stem Garden, and the Wilson Rose Garden are open sunrise to sunset daily.
Paraphrased from Wilson County Tourism Development Authority wilson-nc.com