The name dates back to World War II, when Army vehicles used the route as a short cut from Camp Davis (at modern-day Holly Ridge) to Wrightsville Beach, bypassing downtown Wilmington.
Although it’s now a major commercial thoroughfare — with Mayfaire Town Center, Landfall Shopping Center and the The Forum among other complexes lining its route — Military Cutoff was largely forested and undeveloped until very recently. According to local historian Nola Nadeau, as late as the 1960s, about the only major structure along Military Cutoff — from Market Street to the intersection of Oleander Drive and Wrightsville Avenue — was the Buccaneer Gun Club, a firing range used by developer Raiford Trask and his friends. The gun club closed at this location in the 1980s.
Date posted: June 10, 2009
I always thought it was a by-pass to get the military vehicles to Oleander and then through to the port without going down Market St.
Mari, you are much closer than Ben. During WWII there was an AAF facility at Fort Fisher that was part of Camp Davis. There is still a small Air Force facility there. That is where troops were headed when using Military Cutoff (although they also used the port). It cuts off having to go to College Road, not downtown.