Burgaw, N.C.- There is a pattern to sprawl. It doesn’t matter where in the nation you’re talking about, it almost always follows along the same lines. You start in the center and then let the growth branch off in every possible direction. In time old farms turn into large neighborhoods and empty fields into intersections with strip malls.
The Cape Fear Region has seen this type of growth. It started in Wilmington and then first went west into Leland, then south past Monkey Junction heading towards Pleasure Island, then Northeast into Hampstead, and in more recent years directly north to Castle Hayne and Rocky Point. Now some are betting- or at least hoping- that the growth will go even further north, twenty five miles further north, to the Pender County town of Burgaw.
“The groundwork is laid,” Burgaw Mayor Olivia Dawson recently told WECT-TV. “I feel like if we can make it more of a destination, have more small business, more cafes, more shops, It’ll just be a larger draw for everyone to both visit here and maybe even relocate.”
There was a time, really not too long ago, when Burgaw would have bristled at the thought of being reduced to just a bedroom community. It existed long before the Wilmington sprawl. It is a town with its own identity- put on the map when the railroad used to stop here.
The original train depot, built in 1850, still stands and is now being used as a banquet center. It remains one of Burgaw’s most famous landmarks along with a newly restored courthouse and nearby gazebo.
But the trains no longer stop in Burgaw, and with the extension of interstate 40 (in the mid 80’s) motorists can now drive past the town and not go through it. And so, in the last several decades, while other areas have exploded in the region, Burgaw seems like it’s been forgotten.
Two people are trying to change that.
Meet the Mayor and the Millionaire
The mayor is one of them. Dawson is a political newcomer and the town’s first female mayor. She has a background in the tourism industry. Back when she was growing up, she says there used to be restaurants and other locally owned shops to give people a reason to go downtown. She’d like to see some of those traditions come back.
Businessman Richard Johnson is the other individual with a vision for Burgaw. He is the founder of HotJobs.com. He sold the company to Yahoo nearly 20 years ago for a reported $400 million. Johnson fell in love with Burgaw a few years ago, so much so that he purchased seven buildings downtown to rent to entrepreneurs and create an economic driver of independent business.
“There’s already some great businesses down here,” Johnson told Port City Daily in a recent interview, “including mom-and-pop shops like Brown Dog Coffee, Carolina Eatery, and Old Time Farm Shed. We’re just trying to provide a few more.”
The next one scheduled to open is a company Johnson has personally invested in. It’s called Burgaw Brewery. It will be located on the western side of Burgaw’s iconic courthouse square. It will be the first brewery in town and only the second in all of Pender County. It is scheduled to open sometime in the fall with ten barrels of different types of beer, including a honey-blueberry beverage with the blueberries coming from a nearby farm. In addition the Brewery will also feature a 20-plus-item menu (with appetizers, sandwiches and salads), a 30-foot bar, an outdoor patio and beer garden with a seating capacity of about 100 people. It is expected to employ between 20 to 30 people.
“Obviously, you don’t build a brewpub without investing quite a bit of money,” Johnson said, “but my feeling is, once we open, that investment will more than pay itself back. Our goal is to use our assets and see what we can do to provide a little bit of appeal, so that when people come downtown, there’s something for them to do.”
Because if they find something to do, then maybe they just won’t visit, maybe they will choose to stay.
Nearby Neighborhoods
While the Mayor and Mr. Johnson have focused on improving the quality of life in town, they know if they’re successful that the neighborhoods and communities should pop up organically. And in truth some of that has already started.
Although the majority of homes in Burgaw have been built outside of subdivisions, in the last five years a total of 10 new communities have been developed in town. Collectively the neighborhoods have added roughly 200 new homes to Burgaw.
The largest communities are Creekside, (a private gated subdivision located at the intersection of Highway 117 and Business 117) Morgan Cove (built on the banks of the Northwest Cape Fear River) and Pike Crossing (which shares a Burgaw zip code but is located outside of the city limits in unincorporated Pender County.)
On average, homes are less expensive than in most other towns in the region. A study conducted by Just For Buyers Realty ranked Burgaw as the fourth (out of 29) most affordable town in the tri-county area. In the first six months of 2022, the average home in Burgaw sold for $252,898 or $151 per square foot.
“I tell clients if they’re working in Pender County, or even the northern part of New Hanover County, that Burgaw should be on their list of places to consider,” said Scott Saxton of Just For Buyers Realty. “That’s especially true for clients who want to escape the hustle and bustle of larger areas, or for those who want to spread out and have larger lots. There is still a remote and rural feeling, which is very appealing to some buyers.”
Distances
| Destination | Miles |
| Wilmington International Airport | 22.4 Miles |
| Downtown Wilmington | 28.2 Miles |
| Surf City/ Topsail Beach | 35.6 Miles |
| Wrightsville Beach | 30.8 Miles |
| Raleigh, NC | 102 Miles |
| Myrtle Beach, SC | 105 Miles |
Final Thoughts
In order for Burgaw to keep growing, urban sprawl is not enough. Mayor Dawson says that the community will have to support that growth. Community members will need to support local business owners in order for the town and residents to benefit.
“The improvements downtown are going to sustain our quality of life, and support all the things that we want here and what we stand for and we want to keep,” she says. “I also just want us to work as a community to achieve those goals where we’re all in it together as much as possible.”