Cape Fear Unearthed

Latest Episodes:

Wrightsville Beach and the Dread God of Fire Jan 30, 2020

Show notes

In 1934, Wrightsville Beach was on a high from nearly three decades of immense growth.

Massive hotels like The Oceanic brought in tourists, and venues like the famed Lumina Pavilion entertained them, as well as local residents, when they weren’t on the beach. Even the Great Depression hadn’t completely dampened the spirit.

It all seemed indestructible until a fire on Jan. 28, 1934, wiped out the entire north end of the island and threatened the beach’s livelihood in a matter of hours.

This week on the show, we talk about Wrightsville Beach's history up to the fire, why it was such a landmark moment for the town and how it thrust the tourist destination into a whole new era.

Joining the conversation is Madeline Flagler, executive director of the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "Land of the Golden River, Vol. 1" by Lewis Phillip Hall

-- "Historical Narrative 1841-1972 of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina," by Rupert Benson

-- "Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island," by Ray McAllister

-- Wrightsville Beach Museum of History, wbmuseumofhistory.com

-- Wilmington Morning Star Editions, January to February 1934

The Fateful Fall of Fort Fisher Jan 15, 2020

Show notes

War is hell, and it arrived on Fort Fisher's doorstep in late 1864 after three years of waiting and protecting Wilmington from Union control.

By this point, the fort's importance to the crumbling Confederate Cause was more vital than ever, and it would put up a fight when armies clashed on its shores.

This week on the podcast, we go back to the beginning of the fort to explore its construction (much of which was done by black men and Native Americans), the increasing value of its protection of Wilmington's supply routes, and why it is now one of the region's most recognized and visited landmarks.

Joining the conversation is John Moseley, assistant site manager and education director for the Fort Fisher State Historic Site.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort Fisher" by Rod Gragg

-- "The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope" by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

-- "Rebel Gibraltar: Fort Fisher and Wilmington, C.S.A." by James Laurence Walker

-- "Faces of Fort Fisher: 1861-1864" by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

The Cape Fear Indians Jan 02, 2020

Show notes

Before Brunswick Town and before Wilmington, the first residents of the Cape Fear were the native people who had inhabited the land, to varying degrees, for thousands of years.

Unfortunately, little is known about the people now known as the Cape Fear Indians. How did they live? How did they use the land? What happened to them and what can we still learn from them today?

In Cape Fear Unearthed's first episode of 2020, we will explore those questions and more, including a conversation with David La Vere, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "A Coat of Many Colors: Religion and Society Along the Cape Fear River of North Carolina," by Walter Conser

-- "Time Before History: The Archaeology of North Carolina," by H. Trawick Ward and R. P. Stephen Davis

-- "The Lost Tribe," by Amy Hotz, Wilmington StarNews, Nov. 2007

-- "Cape Fear River Indians," by Phillip D. Garwood

-- Research materials provided by the Cape Fear Museum

If Ghosts Should Walk in Thalian Hall Oct 31, 2019

Show notes

A CAPE FEAR UNEARTHED HALLOWEEN, EP. 5

With so much blood, sweat and tears going into the life and performances of a theater, it’s no wonder they are considered to be among the most haunted places.

Wilmington’s legendary Thalian Hall is no exception. Dating to 1858, Thalian Hall has its fair share of ghosts stories buried in its history.

Do actors haunt the balcony? Did a spirit help out an actress in need of a hand? Did ghosts do their part in securing funds for a historic renovation?

Learn about the stories of Thalian Hall in the final episode of our special Halloween miniseries.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "Thalian Hall: A Brief History," ThalianHall.org

-- "Is Thalian Hall Haunted?," ThalianHall.org

-- “If Ghosts Should Walk in Wilmington,” by James Sprunt (1921)

-- Interviews with Tony Rivenbark

-- Wilmington StarNews archives

The Ghost of General Whiting Oct 24, 2019

Show notes

A CAPE FEAR UNEARTHED HALLOWEEN, EP. 4

Major General William H. C. Whiting’s legacy is eternally tied to the rise and fall of Fort Fisher during the Civil War.

But when he died in New York as a prisoner of the Union, Whiting was hundreds of miles from his adopted home in Wilmington. Still, legend says that even death didn’t stop him from making his return to Fort Fisher to become its eternal watcher.

Whiting’s life and afterlife are the subject of this week’s episode of the Cape Fear Unearthed local history podcast.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope," by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

-- "North Carolina Ghosts & Legends," by Nancy Roberts

-- "Haunted Wilmington," by Brooke Newton Priek

-- "Stories Old and New of the Cape Fear Region," by Louis T. Moore

-- "Faces of Fort Fisher 1861–1864," by Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

Season of the Witch Oct 17, 2019

Show notes

A CAPE FEAR UNEARTHED HALLOWEEN, EP. 3

Witches have become icons of Halloween, but in colonial America, they were something to be feared.

With the dawn of America and in the generations that followed, North Carolina protected itself against the perceived threat of witchcraft by establishing laws to try cases and accusations. But more telling was how the concern over witches embedded itself in the state's folklore, where stories of rituals and markings illustrate just how much the minions of the dark were feared.

In this episode, we will look at how one Cape Fear resident was granted the power to try witch cases, what folklore exists regarding witchcraft and how there were laws against witchcraft-like practices on the books in the state until more recently than you might think.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "Witchcraft in North Carolina," by Tom Peete Cross

-- Louis T. Moore research, New Hanover County Library

-- "Bewitched from the Start," N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

-- North Carolina Folklore Society Journals

-- "Witches and Demons in History and Folklore," by F. Roy Johnson

Ghost on the Water Oct 10, 2019

Show notes

A CAPE FEAR UNEARTHED HALLOWEEN, EP. 2

The mighty Cape Fear River has ferried people up and down the region for centuries, so it should come as no surprise that one of the region's most legendary ghost stories happens on its back.

From the deck of Capt. John W. Harper's Steamer Wilmington around the turn of the 20th century, a chilling tale was born on Christmas Eve that has persisted in local legend for decades. Did the skeleton crew on the steamer actually see the ghosts of two colonial men? And how does the tragic tale of those men tie them to the Cape Fear River, seemingly for eternity?

Those questions at the heart of the latest installment in A Cape Fear Unearthed Halloween, a mini-series digging into the haunted and chilling tales of Southeastern N.C.

This week's episode is drawn from James Sprunt's legendary short story, "A Colonial Apparition."

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "A Colonial Apparition," by James Sprunt

-- "Wilmington: Lost But Not Forgotten," by Beverly Tetterton

-- "Land of the Golden River, Vol. 1," by Lewis Philip Hall

The Spirits of Poplar Grove Oct 03, 2019

Show notes

A CAPE FEAR UNEARTHED HALLOWEEN, EP. 1

For more than a century, the lives of the Foy family played out inside the walls of the manor home at Poplar Grove Plantation.

The plantation dates back to the Revolutionary War and persisted even when the Civil War nearly came right through its front yard. But with the history of the Foy's etched in its walls, could more than just memories lingers at Poplar Grove?

Today, it is a popular museum that's also been the site of more than a few strange occurrences and haunted encounters that add a chilling layer of legend to its fascinating history.

This episode of the podcast is the first in our special month-long series, A Cape Fear Unearthed Halloween, which will share chilling and haunted tales from the region.

Visit PoplarGrove.org for a schedule of daily and October's paranormal tours at the hisoric site.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- Foy Family Household, PoplarGrove.org

-- From Civil War to Civil Rights: The African American Experience at Poplar Grove, by Kimberly Sherman

-- The Last Battleground: The Civil War Comes to North Carolina, by Philip Gerard

Moonshiners, Bootleggers and the Devil's Brew Aug 22, 2019

Show notes

Prohibition ushered in an age of rule breakin’ and hooch makin’ in America, and the Cape Fear region played host to it all.

Illegal moonshining operations, public drunkenness and home speakeasies kept Wilmington-area Prohibition officers busy beginning in 1909 when North Carolina became a dry state – a full decade before the whole country followed suit.

On this week's season finale episode, we talk about why North Carolina was quick to pass Prohibition, how it eroded public adherence to authority, where its impacts are still felt today and what led to the brutal moonshine-related murder of two officers in 1924.

Joining the discussion is special guest Jan Davidson, the historian for the Cape Fear Museum.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

Season three is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "Prohibition in North Carolina," by Daniel Jay Whitener

-- "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition," by Daniel Okrent

-- "Memories Yesteryear," by Dr. Robert M. Fales

-- "Moonshiners and Prohibitionists: The Battle Over Alcohol in Southern Appalachia," by Bruce Stewart

-- Research provided by Cape Fear Museum

-- Wilmington Morning Star editions, 1909-1924

The Life and Liberty of Cornelius Harnett Aug 16, 2019

Show notes

In the American Revolution, Cornelius Harnett's reputation for rebellion preceded him.

A ubiquitous name in local politics on the eve of the war and a well-known merchant, Harnett established himself as a defender of the state's identity.

He would gain such prominence that it's his signature on the document the declared North Carolina's independence from the British, making him one of the crown's most wanted patriots in the south.

While his death at the hands of the enemy was tragic, his story lives on 200 years later – even though he's still a somewhat unsung hero.

This week's episode explores his life and legacy with local history Chris E. Fonvielle Jr.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

Season three is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "Harnett, Hooper and Howe: Revolutionary Leaders of the Lower Cape Fear," by Alan Watson, Dennis Lawson and Donald Lennon

-- "Cornelius Harnett: A Revolutionary Patriot," by Andrew Howell

-- "Cornelius Harnett: An Essay in North Carolina History," by R.D.W. Connors

-- "The Book of Wilmington," by Andrew J. Howell

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