Staff

Museum Director 

Originally from France, Christine Lamberton moved to the US to attend college in North Carolina. She is a UNCW alumna with a master’s degree in history with a concentration in museum education and historic houses. She taught history at UNCW part-time for seven years, and worked in various local museums, including the USS North Carolina battleship and Wrightsville Beach Museum. 

Assistant Director 

A North Carolina native, Hunter has worked with the history of the Lower Cape Fear since his time as a reporter for the Wilmington StarNews starting in 2013. At the newspaper, he created and hosted the award-winning local history podcast “Cape Fear Unearthed,” each episode of which shared a different story from the region’s rich history. He also hosted tours, events and speaking engagements through the podcast and newspaper, as well as covered the North Carolina film industry. Most recently, he served as the educator for the Old Baldy Lighthouse and Smith Island Museum of History on Bald Head Island.

Collections Manager/Archivist

Originally from Idaho, Trish moved to North Carolina after joining the military. She has a B.A. in anthropology and history, and is now pursuing her M.A. in public history at UNCW. She joined the Burgwin-Wright House team in February 2025 as an interpreter and in January 2026 as the collections manager and archivist. She loves all history, but her strong interests are with colonial American and North Carolinian history.

Museum Interpreters

One of the ways the Burgwin-Wright House fulfills its educational mission is through the hiring of students in the field of history, museum studies, and education. This opportunity provides them with hands-on, real-life experiences that help build their resumes. In return, the Burgwin-Wright House is staffed with people who have a shared love of colonial history and preservation, and are always coming up with new ways to engage the public! 

Rebekah Burroughs is from Stantonsburg, North Carolina and earned her BA in History and English at East Carolina University. Currently she is a graduate student at UNCW for Public History. Previously, Rebekah worked as a docent and collections assistant at The Country Doctor Museum. Today, she works at the Wilmington Railroad Museum and, since September 2022, the Burgwin-Wright House. Her specific interests are in collections management and curation.. 

Sarah Creel, originally from Wilmington, is an undergraduate student studying History and English at UNCW. Previously, she has worked at the Latimer House as an archival intern, but she joined the Burgwin-Wright team in March of 2024. Sarah hopes to go on to graduate school for Public History or Library Science, and her specific interests include Southern Reconstruction, Civil War history, and women’s history in America. 

Melissa Story, originally from Pittsburgh, moved to Wilmington in 2007. She received BAs in Art History and History from UNCW, and is finishing her last semester of graduate school in history with a focus on slavery, Reconstruction, and women studies. She began working at the Burgwin-Wright House in June 2025 as an interpreter.