The city of Wilmington was founded in the 1730s and by 1850 was the largest city in North Carolina. (Today, it is the eighth most populous.) Residents of this vibrant and historic port city live between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean. Wilmington's downtown district includes a 1.75-mile riverwalk, developed as a tourist attraction in the late 20th century. Downtown is a destination for museums, theater, galleries, fine dining, and historic sites.

Water sports and beach activities abound, from surfing to fishing. And the area supports the largest domestic television and movie production facility outside California. Cinespace Wilmington houses the largest special-effects water tank in North America. Numerous movies and television series have been filmed or produced in the area, including “Blue Velvet”, “The Conjuring”, “The Crow” (1994), “Dawson's Creek”, “Eastbound & Down”, “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997), “One Tree Hill”, “Outer Banks”, and “Scream” (2022).

In 2003, Wilmington, NC, was designated by the U.S. Congress as a "Coast Guard City", one of 29 cities that currently bear that designation. In 2020, it became the first city in the country to be designated an “American World War II Heritage City”. The World War II battleship USS North Carolina is moored across from the downtown port area. It is now a war memorial and is open to the public for tours.