About Wilmington's Eagles Island-- Part 3: Into the 1900s

Eagles Island appears to have sunk into commercial decline  about the time of World War I.

The Wilmington  Iron Works operated a shipyard and marine railway on Eagles Island as late as 1924  The rusted iron gears they used to pull ships out of the water are reportedly still in view.  In 1910, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built docks and a yard on the island that are still in use.

The battleship USS North Carolina was docked at the island in 1961 and formally dedicated  April 29, 1962,  as a memorial to World War II veterans from North Carolina.  The memorial now occupies a 61-acre tract on the island and is set aside as a nature preserve.

Today, parts of the island  are on the National Register of Historic Places for the number of wrecks in the area along the west bank of the Cape Fear River.

The paddle wheel of a U.S. Engineer snag boat, the H.G. Wright, was removed from the island in the 1980s, restored and now is on display at the Cape Fear  Museum.

--Old B-Runner