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Cape Fear

 
Cape Fear

 
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Cape Fear
 
 
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Cape Fear is a prominent headland
Headlands and bays

Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment....
 jutting into the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 Ocean from Bald Head Island on the coast of North Carolina
North Carolina

North Carolina is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north....
 in the southeastern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. It is largely formed of barrier beaches and the silty outwash of the Cape Fear River
Cape Fear River

The Cape Fear River is a long 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....
 as it drains the southeast coast of North Carolina through an estuary
Estuary

An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
 south of Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a city in and the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. The population was 75,838 at the United States Census, 2000....
.






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Nasa Photo Cape Fear


Cape Fear is a prominent headland
Headlands and bays

Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment....
 jutting into the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 Ocean from Bald Head Island on the coast of North Carolina
North Carolina

North Carolina is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north....
 in the southeastern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. It is largely formed of barrier beaches and the silty outwash of the Cape Fear River
Cape Fear River

The Cape Fear River is a long 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....
 as it drains the southeast coast of North Carolina through an estuary
Estuary

An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
 south of Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a city in and the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. The population was 75,838 at the United States Census, 2000....
. Cape Fear is formed by the intersection of two sweeping arcs of shifting, low-lying beach, the result of longshore currents which also form the treacherous, shifting Frying Pan Shoals
Frying Pan Shoals

The Frying Pan Shoals are a long, shifting area of shoals off the coast of Cape Fear in North Carolina, United States. The shoals have been a hazard to ships in the area since the beginning of Age of Discovery of the area; the area is littered with shipwrecks....
, part of the ship graveyard
Ship graveyard

A ship graveyard or ship cemetery is a location where the hull s of ships are left to decay and disintegrate, or left in reserve fleet....
 of the Atlantic.

Dune
Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by aeolian processes. Dunes are subject to different forms and sizes based on their interaction with the wind....
s dominated by sea oats occur from the upper beach driftline back to the stable secondary dunes, where they mix with other grasses such as Saltmeadow Cordgrass
Saltmeadow Cordgrass

Saltmeadow Cordgrass , also known as Salt Hay Grass, is a species of cordgrass native to the Atlantic coast of the Americas from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada south along the United States east coast to the Caribbean and northeast Mexico....
 and panic grass, as well as seaside goldenrod, spurge
Spurge

Euphorbia is a genus of plants belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. Consisting of about 2160 species, Euphorbia is one of the most diverse genera in the plant kingdom....
, and other herbs to form a stable salt-tolerant grassland
Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found....
.

The Cape Fear estuary drains the largest watershed in North Carolina, containing 27% of the state's population.

Giovanni da Verrazzano, the Italian explorer sailing for France, made landfall at Cape Fear on his voyage to the New World in the spring of 1524 or 1525.

The name (variously "Cape Fair" and "Cape Fare", a sept of the Scots' Ross Clan) comes from the 1585 expedition of Sir Richard Grenville
Richard Grenville

Sir Richard Grenville was an Elizabethan sailor, List of explorers, and soldier. He was the grandfather of Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet, of English Civil War notoriety....
. Sailing to Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island

File:FortRalieghTheater.JPGRoanoke Island is an island in Dare County, North Carolina near the coast of North Carolina, United States.About eight miles long and two miles wide, Roanoke Island lies between the mainland and the Outer Banks, with Albemarle Sound on its north, Roanoke Sound at the northern end, and Wanchese, North Carolina c...
, his ship became embayed behind the cape. Some of the crew were afraid they would wreck, giving rise to the name Cape Fear. It is the fifth oldest surviving English place-name in the U.S.

It was the landing place of General Sir Henry Clinton during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , also known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Thirteen Colonies on the North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers....
 on May 3, 1775.

See also

  • Geography of North Carolina
    Geography of North Carolina

    The eggs falls naturally into three divisions or sections -- the Appalachian Mountains formed mostly by the Blue Ridge Mountains and Great Smoky Mountains, the Middle or Piedmont Plateau, and the Eastern or Tidewater section, also known as the Atlantic Coastal Plain....