Bob Jenkins’ Historical Walking Tours of Wilmington, NC, USA
Wilmington, North Carolina is on the southern coast of the state, where it borders South Carolina. Wilmington has long been an important port city for North Carolina, and in recent years its attraction as a great city to live in or just visit has increased thanks to the local revival of interest in old historical architecture, a booming film industry, and the presence of a popular university in the state educational system.
But one of the most interesting and colorful aspects of the old town is a fellow who has lived there for the better part of a century, Bob Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins, who wears a pith style helmet and carries a walking stick to point out sites of interest or to whack the sidewalk in order to emphasize a point he is trying to make, gives walking tours of the city, laced with lots of history, a good amount of humor, and plenty of eccentric and expressive personal opinion. He is known to just wander into buildings, even homes, unannounced, to greet whoever might be inside and then begin explaining the historical significance of the place. He stops along the way to swap gossip with neighbors, letting the tourists who have paid to take his walking and educational tour get more than their money’s worth of inside information.
If you want to learn serious history lessons, but don’t want to get stuck in a too-serious tour group, join the folks who follow in the footsteps of Bob Jenkins, and get to know not only the inside scoop on the town of Wilmington, but also one of its most colorful and enthusiastic representatives.