Point of Interest
Whirligig Park
301 Goldsboro St. S, Wilson, NC 27893
What's a whirligig? That's a common question best answered in the Piedmont town of Wilson. Whirligigs are large-scale kinetic sculptures of recycled, spray-painted metal and flashing reflectors that all move and chime with the wind. They were created by the late farm-machinery-repairman-turned-folk-artist Vollis Simpson, a Wilson native, who first started making and erecting his whimsical, moveable art structures in the early 1980s. While his whirligigs can be found throughout the South, the best collection, and the only official Whirligig Festival celebrating them, are in Wilson.
Head to Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in downtown Wilson to see 30 of Simpson's whirligigs—including some of the largest in his life’s work—year-round and learn more about the whirligigs at the on-site museum.
