Discover Wilson

Our vibrant community, with its award-winning revitalized downtown, offers live concerts on the lawn, festivals, a library, historic porch tours, walking tours and events for the whole family.

Wilson is home of internationally known folk artist Vollis Simpson and his elaborate "Whirligigs". The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, located downtown, is open to the public and features 30 of his unique sculptures with gardens, a farmer's market, staging for outdoor entertainment and more. In fact, Wilson has the largest collection of Whirligigs anywhere in the world! A MUST SEE!

Eyes On Main Street is a large scale photography exhibit among downtown store front windows and buildings for 100 days in the Spring.

The NC Whirligig Festival, an event open to the public, is held each year during the first weekend in November. This festival was selected as a top 20 event by Southeast Tourism Society. You can browse arts and crafts from among 200 venders along with live entertainment and kid-friendly attractions.

Buckhorn Lake, one of four lakes in Wilson County spans 2183 acres of water and 1850 acres of land. It’s ideal for nature lovers and offers biking, nature trails, hiking, fishing and boating.

Wilson is proud to be North Carolina’s Gigabyte City and is home to North Carolina’s only four term governor. Wilson was also known as the World's Greatest Tobacco Market and today is still America’s largest tobacco market. Wilson attracts leading manufacturers, the industrial base being made up of pharmaceuticals, aerospace, and automotive manufacturing concerns. In fact, there are over 130 manufacturers in Wilson County.

Wilson is known for its first class soccer & baseball facilities, having hosted the US Youth Soccer Southern Regional Championship games as well as hosting the NC Little League Division 6 Baseball Tournament and NC Little League State Tournament through its J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex. Enjoy the Wilson “Tobs” Collegiate All-America Baseball Team as they play each season at the Historic Fleming Stadium. Wilson is also known for its three beautiful, challenging national golf courses as well as disc golf courses.

Wilson is home to Barton College, a fully accredited, four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college located in the heart of town. Wilson Community College provides a variety of educational programs and college transfer programs as well as a new certified LEED Gold Green Building available for group tours.

Enjoy our unique architecture and rich heritage while strolling The Old Wilson Mile. The Wilson Visitors Center operates out of an historic home circa 1916 and is the start of the Historic Downtown Walking Tour. Wilson has over 2500 bungalows and five historic districts featured on the U.S Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. Three of those districts, Old Wilson, Broad-Kenan and West Nash became City Recognized Districts, working under the guidelines of the Historic Preservation Commission. All historic districts are federally recognized and eligible for NC Historic Tax Credits. For more information about the work of the Historic Preservation Commission, please contact Dana Corson, City of Wilson Preservationist, at 252-399-2225 or dcorson@wilsonnc.org.   For more information about Historic Tax Credits, contact John Wood at  252-830-6580 or john.p.wood@ncdcr.gov. All local districts are identified by street signs with an additional brown sign indicating the name of the historic district. Guidelines may be viewed by clicking the following: Historic Preservation Guidelines

Wilson is also known for its museums, which feature The North Carolina Baseball Museum, Imagination Station Science & History Museum, The NC Museum of The Coastal Plain, and The African American Roundhouse Museum. The Wilson Botanical Garden, the Children’s Secret Garden, The Stem Garden, and the Wilson Rose Garden are open sunrise to sunset daily.

TOBACCO WAREHOUSE DISTRICT

The Tobacco Warehouse District is the heart of the City of Wilson and Center City. Most of the architectural fabric in the district dates from the early twentieth century when the tobacco (and to a lesser extent, cotton) markets ushered Wilson into a period of unprecedented prosperity leading to commercial and residential growth. With the introduction of tobacco cultivation in this area in the 1870s and its expansion during the 1880s, the need arose for a market in the area. The Wilson market opened on Spetember 10, 1890 and by 1919 became the largest Bright Leaf Tobacco market in the world. Today it is known as the “World’s Greatest Tobacco Market” moving more tobacco than any other tobacco market in North American.