Bellamy Mansion is a classical style house built by enslaved and free black artisans for John Dillard Bellamy (1817-1896), a physician, planter, and business leader, and his wife, Eliza McIlhenny Harriss (1821-1907). After the fall of Fort Fisher in 1865, it was commandeered as Union Army headquarters during the occupation of Wilmington. It remained in the family until 1972, when it was transferred to non-profit Bellamy Mansion Inc. It opened as the Bellamy Museum of History and Design Arts by Preservation North Carolina in 1994.