Happy birthday, Mr. Morton

Hugh Morton at White House podium, during award ceremony when he received the Theodore Roosevelt Award for Conservation from President George H. W. Bush (not pictured) on October 22, 1990. (Photograph cropped by author.)
Hugh Morton at White House podium, during award ceremony when he received the Theodore Roosevelt Award for Conservation from President George H. W. Bush (not pictured) on October 22, 1990. (Photograph cropped by author.)

Today marks what would have been Hugh Morton’s 95th birthday.  Born on 19 February 1921 in Wilmington, N. C., Morton passed away nearly ten years ago on June 1, 2006 near Grandfather Mountain.  To celebrate, why not spend a few minutes exploring the online collection of Morton photographs?  You can look for cake, ice cream, and presents (but as an adjective or verb!).  There are gifts (or a least gift shops) there, too.

4 thoughts on “Happy birthday, Mr. Morton”

  1. I couldn’t let this day pass without a mention that Hugh Morton would have turned 96 on this day, February 19, 2017. The images that he was able to capture on film…the ones in the North Carolina Collection at the Wilson Library on the UNC campus…will forever speak volumes about Mr. Morton, a true North Carolina treasure.

  2. It was 98 years ago, February 19, 1921, that Hugh Morton, the man for whom this web site was created, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina.
    During his life, Morton became one of North Carolina’s greatest movers and shakers, and on June 7, 1996, he was awarded the North Caroliniana Society Award. At his acceptance banquet, his dear friend Charles Kuralt paid tribute saying:
    “Hugh Morton is North Carolina’s greatest promoter—always, however, of things that ought to be celebrated: the natural wonder of his mountain, the flaming beauty of Wilmington’s azaleas. Or of things that ought to be saved: the Battleship North Carolina, the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. Or of things that ought to be changed: the laws which permitted disfiguring developments on the mountain ridges, the laws which permit acid rain to fall, the constitutional prohibition against governors from succeeding themselves in office. Our famous promoter never promotes himself.”
    On this day, February 19, 2019, Hugh Morton would have turned 98-years-old.

Leave a Reply to Jack Hilliard Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *