Fulford house

I was researching some distant Fulford relatives in New Bern, NC this year and came across a listing for Fulford House as a boarding house in the late 1800s.

I decided to google the name, just to see what it would turn up. I was surprised to find two listings for Fulford House, not in New Bern but in Wilmington, NC.

The Westbrook-Ardmore Historic District of Wilmington has a document online that lists the historic structures in the district. It shows two houses called Fulford House. Neither were connected to the Fulfords in New Bern, but actually were the homes of the younger brother of my great grandfather Capt. Billy Fulford.

Samuel Harker Fulford was born in Carteret County in 1875. He moved to Cortez, Florida with his brothers and sisters in the early 1900s, He fished in Cortez for a while but soon moved back to North Carolina. He ended up in Wilmington and became a policeman for the City of Wilmington.

He married twice but never had any children. As it turns out he must have either had good taste in homes or if he built them himself, good carpentry skill. Several in his family line were boat builders so he may have inherited the skill. Two of his former houses are now included in the historic district.

One house is located at 1504 Orange Street and was built in 1918. The other is just around the corner at 209 South 15th Street and was built in 1929. He was living in the latter one when he died in 1962.