Until 1990, the oak-lined historic district of Wilmington, North Carolina, was ensconced within hundreds of square miles of wetlands that fed the Cape Fear River. Two-lane highways that were prone to flooding barely reached the quaint riverfront that the railroads had abandoned decades before. The completion of Interstate 40, in 1990, beckoned a stream of visitors and developers that brought change to the region that has outpaced the infrastructure, nearly two decades later.
Tourists from the interior cities of Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, and Charlotte, would more frequently traverse this isolated backwater, on their way to beach vacations. Attitudes towards race, religion, economics, and social norms that had not been directly confronted by external realities since Reconstruction, would soon be challenged by the sheer volume of vehicles entering the city, with their human cargo. Eventually, a film studio emerged from the black earth of the Smith Creek watershed, as if it had been smuggled the full length of I-40, by the California transplants that came with it.
Near the sprawling State Ports of the Cape Fear, the Park View Grill overlooked the spillway of Greenfield Lake, as it had for decades, with a fresh look, and a different clientele. The visibility of this small bar made it quite accessible to those who steered through the 90-degree bend, where 3rd Street became Carolina Beach Road, in search of a beer and a game of pool.
Courtesy New Hanover Public Library
The Park View Project explores a case that has been shrouded in mystery, revealing the life of one woman, and the social, legal, and media responses that struggled to honor her, in the aftermath of her death. Park View will lead the viewer on a journey of understanding, from a horrific murder in a coastal Southern town, to the validation of our common humanity.
Click here to view the trailer for "Park View", in WinMedia2
Click here to view the trailer for "Park View", in Quick Time
