Recent Article Form Southport Times about Orton Plantation and Garderns:

Orton Plantation & Gardens is an historic property located in Brunswick County, North Carolina that features, perhaps, the finest example of Antebellum architecture. The plantation is located on the Cape Fear River between Wilmington, NC and Southport, NC. Built in 1735, the mansion has an extensive history dating back to Colonial North Carolina. The plantation has 20 acres of extensive formal and informal gardens among almost 5,000 acres in total. Orton Plantation made national news in the spring of 2010 when it was announced that billionaire hedge fund manager, Louis Moore Bacon, a descendant of the original builder of Orton Mansion, was acquiring the property from the Laurence Sprunt family that had owned the Brunswick County landmark since 1884. The plantation and gardens officially closed to the public on June 1, 2010 for an indefinite period of time to undergo extensive renovations. No date has been announced for a reopening. In the spring of 2011, Orton made local news as a result of extensive "controlled burns" and timber harvesting in an effort to restore the original pine forests. On July 4, 2011, the new owner of the property sold off selected contents of the historic home at a public auction. The items sold were deemed "insignificant" to the history of the plantation. Over 400 people attended this public auction.