Brunswick Town, Battleship NC receive federal shoreline grants

WILMINGTON – Three local shoreline stabilization projects have been given a multi-million dollar boost thanks to National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grants.

Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, the Battleship North Carolina and the city of Wilmington have each received grants from the foundation’s 2020 Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund, collectively totaling nearly $5 million.

At Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson in Winnabow, which received the largest award of $2,002,500, funding will go toward installing the next phase in the site’s reef maker system.

Sitting on the banks of the Cape Fear River, the state-run site is the preserved location of the region’s first permanent settlement known as Brunswick Town starting in 1726 and later repurposed as a Confederate fort during the Civil War. Over the years, as traffic on the river grew more frequent, the shoreline has taken a beating, according to site manager Jim McKee.

To mitigate rapid erosion, the site previously installed the reef maker system, which consists of driving 12-inch wide pilings about 30 feet into the river and topping them with concrete disks, reinforced with granite stone inside the pilings. The disks create a platform that helps shield the shore from destructive waves.

“These break up the wave action that has eroded the marsh,” McKee said. “Being on the river, we have constant wave action from boats, ships, wind and just the general current. But this creates a permeable wall that will allow the shoreline to restore itself.”

McKee spent several years researching aerial images of the shoreline over time and later joined forces with the University of North Carolina Wilmington, which conducted a study on how much erosion was actually taking place. Between 2008 and 2013, the study found the site lost 80-120 feet across almost a mile of shoreline.

More than 450 linear feet of the reef maker system has already been installed and the new grant, which requires $1.5 million that has been raised through other grants, will extend it by 1,100 feet to the south. The extension will work to protect some of the most important and visible features of the site, including Roger Moore’s wharf (circa 1730), William Dry’s wharf (circa 1740), the Fort Anderson wharf, the gigantic tree at the end of the fort’s Battery B and the boardwalk along the water.

McKee said work was expected to begin in May, but the impacts of coronavirus precautions, which have shut down all state historic sites to the public, will likely delay the work.

The Battleship North Carolina received a $1.25 million contribution to its ongoing Living With Water project, which seeks to better protect the WWII ship from flooding and increase resiliency as tidal flooding continues to threaten the site.

Battleship spokeswoman Stacie Greene Hidek said the ship’s crew is incredibly happy to have received the grant, bringing them closer to the $3 million threshold for the Living With Water project. The battleship’s grant requires a $1,583,931 funding match, which Hidek said can be raised through other grants and donations.

The grant will specifically go to restoring more than 800 feet of shoreline and two acres of wetlands, as well as upgrade the site's stormwater collection and management system, and elevate the parking area.

“We’re working with the state right now to find a design and engineering firm that can shore up the plans,” Hidek said. “Until then, we don’t really have a timetable but we are moving forward as much as we possibly can.”

The city of Wilmington received its $1,410,345 grant to construct a stable stream channel that can safely accommodate high flows from upstream development during storms and alleviate flooding along the channel.

The project will improve wildlife habitat and decrease flood risk through stream and floodplain restoration or enhancement of 7.5 acres of floodplain habitat and 5,900 feet of stream channel.

It is required to match the grant with $4.5 million in funding.

Reporter Hunter Ingram can be reached at 910-343-2327 or Hunter.Ingram@StarNewsOnline.com.