Title	Spofford Mills - Grounds. Shell Road is at right.
Subject	Spofford Mills, Delgado Mills, Shell Road
Description	During the War Between the States, the site, where the Delgado (Spofford) Cotton Mill would eventually be built, was used as a camp for Confederate troops. Entrenchments were built there to protect Wilmington from possible land invasion from the east. By 1863, Hobson's and Miller's batteries were in the vicinity, taking advantage of a mineral spring that provided drinking water for the troops. In 1899-1900, Delgado Cotton Mills and surrounding village were constructed on the old Confederate site on the Shell Road (Wrightsville Avenue). The office, which still survives, is a two-story Victorian brick structure of Darlington Brick, designed by a Raleigh architect and building firm, Zachery and Zachery. In the 1970s, the mill building (at right) with its four-story tower was torn down.
Source	Louis T. Moore Collection 835