Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina, is a "walkers' paradise"! This blog has some photos from when I visited there in September, 2025. One of the most famous plants at the gardens, is the The Airlie Oak is a gigantic Southern Live Oak, estimated to be nearly 500 years old. The Spanish moss, hanging like sheer curtains, make it a focal point of the gardens, and a frequent filming location .AIRLIE OAK, shown in the photo below:
I read that its acorns are used to grow heritage trees, but I was too busy taking photos to stop and look for souvenir acorns. I took the photo below, that includes a fellow traveler, to help the viewer get a perspective on the massive size of the living sculpture.
For those who have the time, there are picnic tables beside the oak tree, where one can sit and enjoy the ambience:
My time at the gardens was limited, so instead of stopping, I continued on to the Bradley Creek Pier, that extends out into that body of water, and eventually flows into Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington. That name is familiar to me because it is the location of the first photograph I ever saw, of my future grandson-in-law, when he was showing my granddaughter around his then, home state. With its coastal location, this area is subject to hurricanes. One thing that makes the Arlie Oak so unique, is the fact that it has survived so many hurricanes. The same cannot be said for the massive tree trunk, that lies adjacent to the Bradley Creek Pier.
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I don't want to imply that Bradley Creek flows DIRECTLY into Wrightsville Beach. Rather,, there is a massive "filtration system" that it goes through on its way to the ocean. One of these filters is Cordgrass, as pictured in the photo below:
Sometimes downed trees such as this are left where they fall, as a way to provide habitat for more wildlife. In fact, a salamander was kind enough to pose for a photo for me, after I spotted it climbing on the decaying tree trunk:
Speaking of wildlife, there was a wide variety of birds that could be spotted, which may explain why this is an important birding area. In addition to the birds that actually fly, there was an art installation taking place during my visit, called "Birds of a Feather". One of the birds had the prominent blue color of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW):
Team colors more familiar to my area can be seen on this cardinal statue:
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Mosaic bird has the colors of all the teams:
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