Q 01/05

Wilmington sits on which North Carolina river?

A) Cape Fear

B) Neuse

C) Pamlico

D) Roanoke

Answer · why

A) Cape Fear

The 191-mile blackwater river reaches the Atlantic just below the city; Wilmington's downtown riverwalk runs 1.75 miles along it.

Q 02/05

Wilmington is the county seat of which county?

A) Brunswick

B) New Hanover

C) Pender

D) Cape Fear

Answer · why

B) New Hanover

The 2020 census counted 115,451 residents in the city itself.

Q 03/05

The city was named in 1739 for Spencer Compton, who held what title?

A) The colonial governorship

B) A dukedom

C) An earldom

D) A bishopric

Answer · why

C) An earldom

He was the 1st Earl of Wilmington; Colonel William Bartram, uncle of the naturalist, introduced the bill and named the town for his patron.

Q 04/05

What is Wilmington's nickname?

A) The Gateway to the Cape

B) The Azalea City

C) Hollywood East

D) The Port City

Answer · why

D) The Port City

It has been a seaport since colonial days and remains North Carolina's largest.

Q 05/05

The Wilmington and Weldon, completed in 1840, held what world record?

A) Longest single rail line

B) First steel rails

C) First passenger service in the South

D) Fastest steam locomotive

Answer · why

A) Longest single rail line

At 161.5 miles it beat anything else on earth; it later became part of the Atlantic Coast Line and carried Confederate supplies in the war.