Cape Fear River

The Cape Fear River is a 191.08-mile (307.51 km) long[5] blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name.

Cape Fear River
Tributary to Atlantic Ocean
Map of the Cape Fear River drainage basin
Location
CountryUnited States
StateNorth Carolina
CountyBladen
Brunswick
Chatham
Columbus
Cumberland
Harnett
Lee
New Hanover
Pender
CityLillington
Erwin
Fayetteville
Elizabethtown
Wilmington
Southport
Physical characteristics
Sourceconfluence of Deep River and Haw River
 • locationabout 1 mile southeast of Moncure, North Carolina
 • coordinates35°35′48″N 079°03′07″W[1]
 • elevation154 ft (47 m)[2]
MouthAtlantic Ocean
 • location
between Oak Island and Bald Head Island
 • coordinates
33°53′08″N 078°00′46″W[1]
 • elevation
0 ft (0 m)[2]
Length191.08 mi (307.51 km)[3]
Basin size9,120.61 square miles (23,622.3 km2)[4]
Discharge 
 • locationAtlantic Ocean
 • average9,959.87 cu ft/s (282.032 m3/s) at mouth with Atlantic Ocean[4]
Basin features
Progressiongenerally southeast
River systemCape Fear River
Tributaries 
 • leftGulf Creek, Buckhorn Creek, Parkers Creek, Avents Creek, Hector Creek, Neills Creek, Dry Creek, Buies Creek, Thorntons Creek, Juniper Creek, Cedar Creek, Phillips Creek, Harrison Creek, Ellis Creek, Turnbull Creek, Mulford Creek, Bandeau Creek, Frenchs Creek, Black River, Northeast Cape Fear River, Barnards Creek, Mott Creek, Telfairs Creek
 • rightWombles Creek, Little Shaddox Creek, Lick Creek, Bush Creek, Fall Creek, Daniels Creek, Cedar Creek, Camels Creek, Little Creek, Fish Creek, Poorhouse Creek, Upper Little River, Little River, Carvers Creek, Cross Creek, Rockfish Creek, Grays Creek, Willis Creek, Georgia Branch, Hucklebrry Swamp, Black Swamp, Bakers Creek, Browns Creek, Pemberton Creek, Hammonds Creek, Drunken Run, Donoho Creek, Carvers Creek, Plummers Run, Steep Run, Weyman Creek, Double Branch, Livingston Creek, Bryant Mill Creek, Grist Mill Branch, Bay Branch, Indian Creek, Cartwheel Branch, Alligator Creek, Brunswick River, Mallory Creek, Little Mallory Creek, Town Creek, Sand Hill Creek, Liliput Creek, Orton Creek, Walden Creek, Price Creek
BridgesAvents Ferry Road, US 401-NC 210, NC 217, I-295, I-95, NC 24-210, I-95, Tarheel Ferry Road, US 701, General Howe Highway (NC 11), US 17-74, US 17

Variant names

According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as:[1]

  • Cape Fair River
  • Cape-Feare River
  • Charle River
  • Charles River
  • Clarendon River
  • North East Cape Fear River
  • North West Branch
  • Rio Jordan

History

In October 1662, the English explorer William Hilton Jr. made a three-week reconnaissance of the lower reaches of the Cape Fear River.

4th Octob. we weighed, and went into the Haven, where was 5.6.7.8 fathoms water, and in a weeks time, spent with the indians, and in sounding the River and the ship turning up alway against the wind, we gott up 15. or 16. leagues into the river; and after in our long boate, half of us went 15. leagues further, till at the head of the river we could not tell, which of the many rivers to take, and so returned to our ship, and as we went and came, we found many faire and deep rivers, all the way running into this Charles River.

Hilton's report contained favorable comments on the fish, fowl, and wildlife of the region. He noted "vast meddows, besides upland fields," "greatt swamps laden with varieties of great oakes, and other trees of all sorts," and the potential for good growing conditions. Hilton wrote that the Indians were "very poor and silly Creatures," that he had observed fewer than one hundred of them, but that they were "very theevish." He wished "all Englishmen, that know how to improve and use a plentiful Countrey and condition, not to delay to posses it...."[6]

The "Clarendon River" in "A New Description of Carolina", engraved by Francis Lamb (London, Tho. Basset and Richard Chiswell, 1676)

During his 1664 visit, Hilton remained almost two months on the Cape Fear. The explorers spent much of their time on the Northeast Branch which they felt was the main channel. They anchored their ship, Adventure, and rowed the ship's long-boat on trips up several tributaries. The longest of these explorations was four days' travel up-stream and two back down.

As the Hilton party left the Cape Fear they "made a purchase of the river and land of Cape Fair, of Wat Coosa...." They found a warning near the mouth of the river left by the New Englanders (of the ill-fated colony earlier that year) which disparaged the country and warned against settlement there. Hilton's report concluded with a rebuttal to that warning:

we have seen facing both sides of the river and branches of Cape Fear aforesaid, as good land and as well timbered as any we have seen in any other part of the world, sufficient to accommodate thousands of our English nation, and lying commodiously by the said river's side.

In 2018, Hurricane Florence caused a dam failure which led to the leakage of coal ash into the river at about five miles northwest of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Course
The Cape Fear River at Smith Creek in Wilmington, NC.

It is formed at Haywood, near the county line between Lee and Chatham counties, by the confluence of the Deep and Haw rivers just below Jordan Lake. It flows southeast past Lillington, Fayetteville, and Elizabethtown, then receives the Black River approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Wilmington. At Wilmington, it receives the Northeast Cape Fear River and Brunswick River, turns south, widening as an estuary and entering the Atlantic approximately 3 miles (5 km) west of Cape Fear.

During the colonial era, the river provided a principal transportation route to the interior of North Carolina. Today the river is navigable as far as Fayetteville through a series of locks and dams. The estuary of the river furnishes a segment of the route of the Intracoastal Waterway.

The East Coast Greenway runs along the River.

Bridges
  • The port in Wilmington on the Cape Fear River estuary
  • Lock and Dam No. 1 on the Cape Fear River in Bladen County
  • U.S. Coast Guard vessel on the Cape Fear, photographed from the USS North Carolina
  • A cargo ship navigating the mouth of the Cape Fear River at Southport
  • Sunset over the Cape Fear River flowing under the S. Thomas Rhodes Bridge.
  • Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington is the highest in North Carolina.

See also

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cape Fear River
  2. "Cape Fear River Topo Map, Brunswick County NC (Southport Area)". TopoZone. Locality, LLC. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  3. "ArcGIS Web Application". epa.maps.arcgis.com. US EPA. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  4. "Cape Fear River Watershed Report". Waters Geoviewer. US EPA. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  5. Cape Fear River Archived April 1, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. Note that despite the gazetteer's claim of the river being the longest entirely within North Carolina, the Neuse River Archived 2009-06-09 at the Wayback Machine is longer
  6. Quoted in Gregory E. Rutledge (2013). The Epic Trickster in American Literature. Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature. Routledge. p. 157. ISBN 9781136194832.

Featured in Season 4 of the [TV series] "Outlander". Season 4 of Outlander, on IMDB

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