Cape Fear Museum of History and Science is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

located at 814 Market Street in downtown Wilmington in southeastern

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. Founded in 1898, it is the oldest history museum in the state.

Museum scope

The Cape Fear Museum was founded in 1898 by the local chapter of the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

to preserve artifacts relating to the Civil War. Today, it is owned and operated by New Hanover County New Hanover, North Carolina. The museum moved to its current location in 1970. The museum's building is a combination of an historic structure—a 1930s

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

armory—and a 1990s expansion. The museum has a collection of more than fifty two thousand artifacts, the vast majority of which are in storage. The museum currently collects artifacts relating to the history, science, and cultures of the Lower Cape Fear, defined as a 50-mile radius around the city of Wilmington. In addition to New Hanover, the adjacent counties are Brunswick and Pender. The extended region encompasses portions of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

, Bladen,

Sampson Sampson may refer to: Military * , several Royal Navy ships * , several US Navy ships * Sampson-class destroyer, a World War I US Navy class * Sampson Air Force Base, near Seneca Lake, New York, closed in 1956 * SAMPSON, a multi-function radar ...

, Duplin, and Onslow counties.

Exhibits

On the first floor of the museum, visitors can explore The Michael Jordan Discovery Gallery which examines the region's ecosystems. There are

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

displays, with a section on

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

s and wildlife in the region, such as deer, beavers,

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

es, a

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...

s, and the unique

Venus flytrap The Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a carnivorous plant native to the temperate and subtropical wetlands of North Carolina and South Carolina, on the East Coast of the United States. Although various modern hybrids have been created ...

carnivorous plant. The weather is also discussed. There is a small exhibit on

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

, the basketball superstar from Wilmington. Visitors can also see a Simmons Sea-skiff, a locally built boat in the lobby. And, castings of the bones of a Giant Ground Sloth are on display. The lobby also includes the "Arrivals" exhibit which showcases the varied ways people experienced arriving in the Lower Cape Fear over time. The museum's main exhibit, Cape Fear Stories starts on the first floor. The first section of the exhibition, Land of the Longleaf Pine, examines the history of the region from the first inhabitants through the American Revolution. The exhibits then explore the 19th century, including the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, and, after visitors go upstairs, they can learn about the history of the racial violence that wracked the city in 1898, about segregation, and learn some of the region's 20th century stories. The museum also hosts traveling exhibits and temporary exhibits. Currently (August 2015) the museum's temporary exhibits were all researched, curated, designed and fabricated by the museum's staff. The exhibits are Reflections in Black and White, and Make it Work, an exhibit about simple machines and maritime work An in-house exhibit on Smoking is on display in the Collections Selection space.

References

External links

Cape Fear Museum website
{{authority control History museums in North Carolina Natural history museums in North Carolina Science museums in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Wilmington, North Carolina Museums in New Hanover County, North Carolina Museums established in 1898 1898 establishments in North Carolina Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums United Daughters of the Confederacy museums