History of Oakdale Cemetery

Oakdale Cemetery was chartered on December 27, 1852 by the General Assembly of North Carolina. The founders purchased 65 acres for $1,100. The acreage now has grown to about 100 acres of natural beauty. Created during the era of the Rural Cemetery Movement in the US, Oakdale was the first in the state, only fitting for the most populous city in the state at the time. It was five blocks beyond the town boundaries.

Old Iron Chain Fence

Old Iron Chain Fence

Saturday, January 7, 2012

A Captain and his dog

Captain William Ellerbrook and his faithful dog, Boss

This monument in Oakdale Cemetery commemorates the deaths of Captain William Ellerbrook and his faithful dog Boss, who gave up his life in an effort to drag his master from a burning building at the corner of Front and Dock Streets.  Captain Ellerbrook was master of a Heide Company tugboat and a volunteer fire fighter. 

One fateful night in 1880, Captain Ellerbrook answered a call to save the burning store. Running into the burning building, Ellerbrook was caught by failing timbers, hearing his owners screams for help, his dog, Boss dashed into the burning building, only to be found the next day beside Ellerbrook’s body with a piece of cloth torn from his master’s coast sill in his mouth.  The dog was buried in the casket with Captain Ellerbrook.  Much loved and respected, their funeral was attended by hundreds of Wilmington Citizens. 

Source: A Pictorial History of Wilmington by Anne Russell





Ghost @ Paddy's Hollow

Fred the Ghost Wilmington NC

Welcome to Tour Old Wilmington's new blog site!

Fred the Ghost, pictured below is a great example of local spooky lore.

I took this picture in Paddy Hollows located in The Cotton Exchange in beautiful downtown Wilmington NC. It was about 4:oo pm in the afternoon. I had just finished talking to the bartender about the possibility of ghost haunting the old place. Goofing around, I took several pictures. In this one you can see the face of Fred the Ghost.
He is said to haunt the bar and loves to pull practicaljokes on the restaurant staff.