Growing up in Wilmington, NC in the 1980's and 1990's was quite an interesting slice of Americana. Looking back at old videos, nearly all our family and friends had very distinctive accents, whereas nowadays we have all mostly lost that uniqueness in speech. Interestingly, the haze of Betamax and VHS low definition home video recordings are similar to memories in multiple ways. The videos are selective. They aren't as clear as the real thing. And each time you view them, you affect and change them. So of course we had them digitally recorded. Which presents another archiving issue, but that's another post...
Our yard had a giant magnolia tree, perfect for climbing. I would always see how high I could get, and I'm sure my mom would have freaked out if she found me up as high as I would go. Every spring would bring the most wonderful magnolia scents, at least while the blossoms hadn't rotted. We also had a few dogwood trees that would eventually meet their demise from the semiannual hurricanes that would hit us dead on. For a couple of weeks every year, the azaleas would bloom, creating a pastel paradise around the neighborhood and city. Nearly a hundred years ago a number of people in town started the Azalea festival to celebrate. I had not been back to Wilmington when the azaleas were blooming for nearly two decades, and going back last spring really put me in awe of what I had taken for granted growing up.
Wilmington is close to the beach, so we spent a lot of time at Wrightsville Beach, enjoying the ocean and sound behind the barrier island full of salt marshes. Flying in and out of town growing up was always a treat, and the town was small enough that you usually knew one or two people on the plane. The airport was small enough that there were no jetways, just a drive up set of stairs (you gotta worry about hop-ons on your way to the banana stand). Each time I would fly back into town, the first thing that hit you when the door opened was the salt marsh scent, which we've recreated in our salt marsh candle. The town has multiple oak-lined streets, and so many unique smells which inspired out our Southern Coastal Scent collection. We hope you enjoy!