See also: St. Philip's Church.
The town was situated on a low bluff on the western bank of the Cape Fear River near Town Creek, approximately 20 miles north of the river's mouth-a site that was less than ideal because of nearby swamps and exposure to attack but commercially viable since it was accessible by oceangoing vessels. The town was named in honor of George I of England, a member of the German House of Brunswick-Hanover, and its earliest residents were mostly planters from South Carolina and the Albemarle, merchants, and seamen. The town became a center of commerce-with tobacco, lumber, naval stores, furs, and other products being shipped out-as well as the home of a number of prominent persons. Russellborough, home of two royal governors, Arthur Dobbs and William Tryon, stood just outside the town's limits.
In February 1766, a peaceful assault on Governor Tryon's home was organized in opposition to the Stamp Act, forcing the resignation of the Comptroller of the Customs, William Pennington. During the early years of the Revolution, Brunswick Town was nearly abandoned, and it was partially burned by the British soon after. When the county seat was moved to a safer location in 1779, Brunswick ceased to exist as a political center, and by 1783 it lay mostly in ruins. Some merchants remained to serve heavy vessels that had to lighten cargo before proceeding to Wilmington due to river shallows, but the deepening of the river channel in later years ensured the town's complete demise.
Between 1768 and 1770, a Swiss surveyor and engineer, Claude Joseph Sauthier, mapped ten North Carolina towns. His map of Brunswick is one of those that survives in the British Library, and many of the buildings that he depicted have been marked on the ground. Streets are indicated and the plan and function of this early eighteenth-century town may be studied. During the Civil War, the Confederate army built Fort Anderson on the site. Much of the modern-day Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site was excavated by archaeologists during the 1950s and 1960s. The ruins of St. Philip's Church remain, with brick walls 3 feet thick and 25 feet high. Portions of other businesses and homes exist, as well as the remains of Fort Anderson. A visitors center reveals the history of Brunswick Town through a variety of exhibits and artifacts.