The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-05-03
ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE
COL I0NlAl DANES MAY DAY EXCURSION
YESTERDAY
st. Philips Church Yesterday-F1ye
did Addresses by Col. waddell and
Mr.. Sprunt.

On May Day last year the North Car
olina Colonial Danes inaugurated 4
custom Of making an annual Pilgrim
age to the sacred ruins of the old coll
nial Episcopal church of St Philips,
at the now deserted site of the ancient
town of Brunswick, on the west side
Of the Cape Fear river. eighteen miles
below Wilmington.
Yesterday the Danes went on their
second annual pilgrimage to the his
toric ruins. and made it the occasion
of an excursion on the steamer Will
mington. II was an ideal day for the
affair most certainly. The steamers
regular time for leaving the city
was $40 a. m, but the excur-
sionists kept streaming to the
wharf and by the time the Danes and
those who accompanied them got on
board the steamer. it was 10 O'Clock
There was full turnout OF the Danes
and hundreds Of other people, so that
when the Wilmington pulled away from
the wharf nearly 500 people were on
board for the trip. She steamed up
the harbor to Point Peter and after
turning she sped back past the city,
making quite a gala day spectacle.
The Danes embrace many of the
most prominent ladies in our city, and
accompanying them on their pilgrimag ge
was their beloved president-that in
tellectual and gifted representative
Wilmington woman. Mrs. Kate DeRos-
set Meares. The Danes from other
paarts of the state who came down to
join them in the pilgrimage were Mrs.
n of
companied by Col. Currie; Mrs. Henry
Armand London. of Pittsboro, and her
daughter. Miss Bessie: Mrs. A B. An
drews. of Charlotte, accompanied by
Miss Julia Robertson, of that city: Mrs.
w. 0. Shannon. of Henderson; Mrs. E.
E. Moffitt, of Raleigh; Miss Margaret
Moore Haughton, of Charlotte; Mrs.
| T. A. Jones, of Asheville, accompanied
| by Judge T. A. Jones; and Mrs. Mary
| Bond. of Chattanooga, Tenn.
| Among the other visitors were the
Right Rev. Bishop and Mrs. Joseph
| Blount Cheshire. of Raleigh: Mrs. DIR.
W. B. Rritchard. of New York. and
| umany others whose names we cloud
| not secure.
In the party the clergy of nearly ev-
| cry denomination in the city was repre-
sented. and many Of the teachers Of the
| public and private schools and school
|
account of the occasion the public High
School. Howells Military Academy, the
Cape Fear Academy, and Miss Hart
| and Miss Browns school for youns
ladies. gave a holiday.
ON HISTORIC GROUND.
At few minutes to II o'clock tht
| steamer landed at the wharf at Ole
or Fort Anderson. as it has been called
since our civil war. A few vehicles
| were on the beach to carry the Colo
NAL Danes TO the old church, which
was a half mile back in the pines from
the rolling tides Of the Cape Fear. The
hundreds. however took the near Gu
through the pine thicket. Every incl
of it was historic all the way to th'
silent walls of the colonial house o
worship. The path leads through al
| exceedingly picturesque place. 1t il
over and around the mounds and rem
nants Of old earth-works and batter.
| elevations that constitute what is lef
Of Fort Anderson, so long occupied b.
the Confederates as one of the defence
of the port Of Wilmington during th'
war between the states. These oil
| Notifications are grimly silent now
No braZen-mouthed cannon are mount
ed on the parapets, and the foot-fal
of the sentry has died away in tn
quarter of a century and more tina
L
the spot tragic animation. Large pine
grow on the sides and on the tops y
the Notifications and underneath is
thick copse of brush and vines. TIL
sun rarely breaks through and tn
dark shades that hang over the hollow
give it the appearance Of a della veri
table sleepy hollow" No hissin
shells from the enemy's feet in the off
ing now burst over the woods, and
save the passing of man now and then
there is nothing to start the fox in hi
den. disturb the big rattlesnakes Il
their lairs or flush the song birds il
the tree tops.
THE VANISHED TOWN.
AS one passes through the sighin,
pines amid the earthworks that Ii
beneath them, imagination must pic
ture that it wa{ 3nce the site Of
town. Such it wal Here was located
the ancient town d Brunswick. laid ou
by Col. Maurice d bre and settled II
1725. He was an Ecestor Of our dis
I tinguished townsm the Hon. A. NJ
Waddell. but the wn has vanished
The iconoclastic hand Of time has no
left a vestige OF a house. II there wer,
streets they havsee blotted out, ant
the pecple!-thfS have passed Sway
The civilizatiof the culturevthe re
finement. the ealth that once exist
Il
kept in the early colonial days by tn
father Of Cape Fears revolutionar-
patriot. Cornelius Harnett, has crum
bled into dust. and there is no land
lord to watch for and welcome III
wayfarer.
A half mile through S<the wood.
brings Dc to the only spot there .
left to rdind him that here was one
a town o{some six hundred inhabit
ants or MI Il is where stands tn,
four silent rick walls of the old colo
nial church OF St Philips. and
dozen or SO toInbs that have blackenet
and crumbled with age The marbl,
slabs are almost black and souxnof tn,
Inscriptions on them are almost ef
faced by the corroding elements Of th,
long years they have marked the nal
lowed spots where lie the ashes o
some OF the distinguished inhabitant.
OF the vanished town.
When we first saw the ruins OF tn.
old church a dozen years ago. IL wa,