Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park

Wilson, North Carolina, United States

Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park is a two-acre park in downtown Wilson, North Carolina, opened in 2017 to display about 30 large kinetic sculptures that self-taught folk artist Vollis Simpson built from recycled and salvaged metal. The sculptures turn and chime in the wind.

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Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park

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Approximate location · 35.721° N, 77.916° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Thirty wind-driven machines of salvaged metal, reflectors and spinning vanes stand in the middle of a former tobacco town, and on a breezy day they turn and chime together. Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park occupies two acres at 301 Goldsboro Street South in downtown Wilson, North Carolina.

Simpson was a Second World War veteran. According to Public Radio East, he founded a house-moving business after the war and built much of its equipment. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources says he worked first as a farm-equipment repairman and then spent 30 years designing, building, painting and maintaining large and small whirligigs on his family farm in Lucama. VisitNC says he began erecting them in the early 1980s. The state's General Assembly designated the whirligigs North Carolina's official folk art in 2013, the year Simpson died.

By then the sculptures were deteriorating. The National Endowment for the Arts reports that the City of Wilson, Wilson Downtown Properties and the North Carolina Arts Council set out to conserve them for a new public park, and that conservators found them in much worse condition than expected. The park was dedicated and opened on 2 November 2017. The state described 30 large-scale whirligigs; the NEA refers to 31. Heights differ too: the NEA says the structures reach up to 55 feet, while a USA Today entry quoted by WNCN in 2026 says some reach nearly 50 feet.

In February 2026 WNCN reported that city officials said readers had voted the park the best sculpture park in USA Today's 10Best awards. The park's website describes a conservation team that repairs, repaints and stabilises the whirligigs each fall, so some may be away for restoration in the fall, and it lists a museum and gift shop nearby.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

An outdoor park of about 30 large wind-driven sculptures in downtown Wilson. The park's website lists it as open daily, with a museum and gift shop nearby, and advises caution in high winds. Some whirligigs are taken away for restoration each fall.

ACCESS

301 Goldsboro Street South, downtown Wilson, North Carolina, a public park. The park's website lists daily opening; the museum and gift shop keep separate hours.

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