St. James Church

Corner of Third and Market Streets houses a famous painting of the head of Christ. Ecce Horno, “Behold the Man, “which is estimated to be over 500 years old. A portrait of Christ with a crown of thorns on his head and blood on his face and body.  The painting was captured from a Spanish pirate ship in 1748 at a settlement on the Cape Fear River twenty miles below Wilmington.  The artist who painted the portrait is unknown, although it is thought to be Francisco Pacheon, who lived in Spain in the sixteenth century.

Source: A Pictorial History of Wilmington by Anne Russell

St. James Episcopal Church was established in the year 1729. Proceeds from the sale of goods that had been salvaged from the Fortuna, a Spanish ship that was abandoned after the Spanish had an unsuccessful attack on Wilmington, went to the construction of St. James and its sister church, St. Philip's Church. The original church building for St. James was built and completed in 1770. The church took on a vital role in the American Revolutionary War. British General Lord Cornwallis took up residency in a house across the street from St. James. The British used St. James as a hospital, and later as a riding school to train the British soldiers. The church was torn down and rebuilt in 1839, the new building constructed from the original bricks of the church. Architect Thomas U. Walter, who designed the dome of the United States Capitol, designed the new church building. St. James, yet again, found itself taking a role in war. In the American Civil War, the church was used as a hospital for Union soldiers, who had at the time taken the confederate city of Wilmington after the fall of Fort Fisher. The church's parish house was built in 1923. Next to the parish house was a house built by Henry Bacon, the architect of the Lincoln Memorial in 1901. The Bacon house later became church offices. The church is the resting place of three Episcopal Bishops, Robert Strange, Thomas Atkinson, and Thomas H. Wright, who are buried underneath the church.^[2][3]

Church interior

St. James Episcopal Church's oak altar and reredos were carved by Silas McBee, depicting the Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus. McBee also designed the Bishop's chair and two of the stained glass windows, imcluding The Resurrection of Christ.

Ecce Homo

A painting of Christ was found in the captain's cabin of the Fortuna by scavengers when being salvaged. The painting turned out to have been done by Spanish artist Francisco Pacheco, and was named Ecce Homo, Latin for Behold the Man. The painting was given to St. James Episcopal Church in 1751, and still resides in the church.^[4]

Notable burials

The historic graveyard at St. James has many notable burials.^[5] These burials include:

• Cornelius Harnett, American Revolutionary
• George Washington Glover, first husband of Mary Baker Eddy
• Grainger & Joshua Wright, Wrightsville Beach was named after their father Joshua Grainger Wright
• Robert Strange, Episcopal bishop

References

1.                           ^ http://www.stjamesp.org/refresh/templates/about.php?id=3

2.                           ^ http://www.ecva.org/congregations/features/st_james_wilmington/st_james_wilmington.pdf

3.                           ^ http://www.stjamesp.org/refresh/templates/about.php?id=4

4.                           ^ http://www.ecva.org/congregations/features/st_james_wilmington/st_james_wilmington.pdf

5.                           ^ http://www.stjamesp.org/refresh/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/Hist_Graveyard_2009.pdf

History of Wilmington

According to the Julian calendar, Wilmington, North Carolina, was incorporated in 1739.  Located on the east bank of the Cape Fear River, the original town is 28 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean.  Built on several rises, more like sand dunes than hills, the town ascends 50 feet from the river shoreline.  Despite navigational difficulties along the river, the town grew to become the largest city in the state before the Civil War.  It remained so until the second decade of the 20^th century, when the state’s Piedmont tobacco and textile towns rose to prominence. 

Wilmington’s historical significance is reflected in the variety of architectural styles, streetscapes and in other aspects of its material culture.  The Colonial town is most visible in the original grid pattern of the streets, the numbered streets running from north to south and the named streets running from east to west.  Several periods of rapid growth have altered the city’s passage through time.  Very few buildings remain from the early town because of the large fires and antebellum growth stimulated by the 1840 opening of the railroad. 

Three other periods of sustained growth are also noteworthy.  Recovery from the Civil War with increased port and rail expansion precipitated substantial commercial activity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Increased business and industry, particularly of cotton and fertilizer, provide a building boom both commercially and residentially, including moves to the first suburbs.  This economic activity spread across the region, evident most notably in the development of the nearby beaches.  After a period of decline during the Great Depression, Wilmington experienced another burst of growth during World War II Military facilities and the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company brought an unprecedented number of new residents who needed housing as well as a myriad of businesses to support their daily lives.  The most recent growth can in the 1990s, after Wilmington was connected to the rest of the country by Interstate Highway 40. 

Source: Wilmington Lost But Not Forgotten by Beverly Tetterron