Cape Fear River.
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Title |
Cape Fear River. |
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Subject |
Cape Fear River, Eagles Island, Point Peter, Steamer |
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Description |
A steamer is in the river in front of Eagles Island. Point Peter is in the background. The Native Americans called the river, "Sapona" which is formed by the junction of the Haw and Deep Rivers in Chatham County, NC, and flows southeasterly toward the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape that would eventually give the river its permanent name. In 1526, the Spanish explorer, Vasquez de Ayllon, wrecked a ship in his fleet near the mouth of the River Jordan as the river was then named. Early English explorers knew it as the Charles and later the Clarendon River. Cape of Fear appears on maps as early 1585. In the nineteenth century, local citizens debated whether the cape should be called Cape Faire or Cape Fear. By all rights, the name, "Fear" was appropriate. At the mouth of the river are the treacherous Frying Pan Shoals, which jut out twenty-eight miles into the ocean. These dangerous underwater sandbars have caused countless ship wrecks and have caused sailors to "fear" the place; hence, Cape of Fear. At the confluence of the Northeast and Northwest Cape Fear Rivers, opposite Wilmington, was as early as 1764, called Negro Head Point or Plantation. At an early date, the property was owned by Peter Mallette. Since that time the point has been known as Point Peter. Eagles Island is located on the west bank of the Cape Fear River, directly opposite downtown Wilmington. The seven mile long island was named for Richard Eagles, a native of Bristol, England, who was granted a part of the island by King George II in 1737. Eagles purchased additional tracts on the island in 1738 and 1739. The causeway was begun in 1764 by Colonel William Dry, Collector of Customs for the port of Brunswick. Dry used ballast from ships, coming into the ports of Wilmington and Brunswick as a foundation for the causeway, which was finished in 1791. Among the dirt ballast of the foreign ships were seeds from many different countries. These seeds often took root; therefore, growing wild along the causeway are many plants that are not native to the lower Cape Fear. During the nineteenth century, it was an important center of the local naval stores industry and was also the western terminus of the Cape Fear River ferry. The causeway island allowed vehicular traffic to drive to the river. |
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Source |
Louis T. Moore Collection 273 |
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