Category "Uncategorized"

Getting Your Bearings Part II: Beaches North of the Cape Fear River to Rich’s Inlet

OliverCarter - August 14, 2014 - Uncategorized

As we have seen, the mouth of the Cape Fear River is between Bald Head Island to the east and Oak Island to the west. Bald Head Island’s south beach runs east from the mouth of the Cape Fear River to the actual cape itself. This part of the shoreline runs more or less west to east, but at the cape the shoreline turns to the north and runs in a northerly or northeasterly direction for fifty or sixty miles. It looks like an almost 90-degree corner! Then it curves back around to the east again in a nice long arc until it reaches the next cape on the N.C. coast—Cape Lookout. Here’s a chart from Charleston, SC to Cape Hatteras. The pink arrow near the center is pointing at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and the Cape is just to the east. Onslow Bay is to the northeast.

NOAA chart 11520: Cape Hatteras to Charleston

From Cape Fear to Cape Lookout is about 100 miles by the rhumbline or “as the crow flies”. A rhumbline is the navigational term for a constant heading between two points. IN this case, the heading is almost due northeast. If you were to sail the rhumbline from Cape to Cape, you would be out of sight of land for much of the time due to the curvature of the shoreline—the aforementioned arc. In fact, you’d be more than twenty miles offshore for much of the trip. From a normal boat, you can usually see the shore from inside ten miles, depending on the swell and the visibility.

If you were to depart from the rhumbline in a boat and follow the coastline instead, you would travel some 130 miles. If you were to drive from Cape Fear to Cape Lookout, you would drive about the same distance, but keep in mind that you can’t get to either cape by car. The closest you can get to Cape Fear by car is the Fort Fisher aquarium, and the closest you can get to Cape Lookout by car is Harker’s Island.

Etymology

OliverCarter - June 23, 2014 - Uncategorized

This name of this blog is taken from the song “Floridays” by Jimmy Buffett. The first two stanzas are:

I come from where the rivers meet the sea
That’s part of why I’m so wild and fancy free
I was early in the crazy ways
My folks said, “It’s just a phase”
They were hoping for better days.

Now in my line of work I seem to see a lot more than most
Write ‘em down, pass ‘em around
It’s the gospel from the coast
Reflections, not just replays
Takin’ time to escape the maze
Lookin’ for better days.

Buffett released this song on the Floridays album in 1986. I got a copy not long thereafter. Along with many of his songs from the late eighties, this one is a bit subdued if not wistful. Still it speaks to me.

As the name suggests, this blog will focus on the physical space where the river meets the sea. Since I live in Wilmington, NC, my blog will particularly emphasize the place where the Cape Fear River empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

My secondary emphasis will be on Mobile Bay, the place about which the song “Floridays” is written. Notice the subtle grammatical distinction: in Mobile Bay (and therefore in the song), the rivers (plural) meet the sea whereas in Wilmington (and thus in the title of this blog) the river (singular) meets the sea. In Mobile, five rivers empty into the top of Mobile Bay. The Bay is around 40 miles from north to south, and the mouth of the bay empties into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the largest bay on the Gulf Coast and second only to the Chesapeake in the U.S. Mobile Bay is a lot like Pamlico Sound in N.C. because several different rivers empty into Pamlico Sound some thirty or forty miles from where the Sound opens into the Atlantic Ocean. By contrast, the Cape Fear River empties directly into the Atlantic Ocean through a very pronounced mouth about a mile from Southport, N.C.

This blog will explore these two estuarine regions where the river meets the sea, however gradually. In addition to the Cape Fear region and Mobile Bay, I will share interesting stories and facts about other coastal areas, especially in the Carolinas and near Mobile. My posts will chronicle the physical characteristics of the land and the water as well as the abundant plant and animal life. I’ll also document the human culture of this region, from the amazing cuisine to the colorful history to the superb cultural arts—writing, music, visual arts, and more. I sometimes may meander from these themes like the lazy river doth roam, but just as the moon and the tides, I shall return to where I began.

Getting Your Bearings Part I – The Cape Fear River

OliverCarter - June 20, 2014 - Uncategorized

Step aboard my blog for a pleasant voyage through the “Gospels from the Coast”. To begin with, it will help you to get oriented. Here is a map of the Lower Cape Fear Region.

As you can see, the river flows in a more or less southerly direction from Wilmington to its mouth just below Southport. The Cape Fear River rises in the northern Piedmont of N.C. Its two major tributaries are the Deep River, which rises in High Point, and the Haw River, which rises north of Burlington. The confluence of these two rivers in Chatham County, just south of Chapel Hill, creates the Cape Fear. From there the river runs approximately 200 miles in a southeasterly direction to Wilmington. It is joined by several other significant rivers along the way and numerous small streams.

Here is a map of the Cape Fear River Basin.

In Wilmington, the Cape Fear River meets the Northeast Cape Fear River.
When she moved here, my wife remarked that the name of the Northeast Cape Fear demonstrated a notable lack of imagination. I concede the point. The Northeast Cape Fear is a fairly substantial river in its own right, draining most of New Hanover, Pender, and Duplin counties. It ought to have its own separate name. The Northeast Cape Fear is also significant because its tributaries drain two enormous natural preserves: Holly Shelter Game Land and Angola Bay Game Land. These amazing preserves are maintained by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, primarily for hunting. They are unbelievably beautiful. Here is a picture of Holly Shelter in the fall and a picture of Shelter Creek, one of the main tributaries of the Northeast Cape Fear River. The second picture was taken at Holland’s Fish Camp on Highway 53 about three miles east of Burgaw.

[picture of Holly Shelter in fall]
[picture of Holland’s Fish Camp]

The Lower Cape Fear is actually a marine estuary—the water is brackish and the tidal influence is prominent. Such has always been the case, but dredging the shipping channel up to the N.C. State Port at Wilmington has increased the tides and the salinity of the water considerably. Occasionally at high tide the water will come up into the streets of downtown Wilmington. This happens in Charleston quite regularly, especially around Colonial Lake, and the problem is worse there since Charleston is low and flat. Wilmington, on the other hand, lies on a rather steep riverbank that rises forty or fifty feet from the river. Due to this incline, the river only comes up into the street that runs immediately alongside it, the aptly-named Water Street.

Here is a picture of the Wilmington waterfront. Notice the wooden Riverwalk promenade that extends along the riverfront. Pretty much everyone loves the Riverwalk. The second picture is the view from the Riverwalk looking south on a still evening. The bridge is the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge built in 1969. It is the highest bridge in North Carolina.

[picture of Wilmington waterfront]
[photo from Wilmington Riverwalk looking south]

From Wilmington, the Cape Fear River marine estuary extends some twenty miles down to Southport. A mile or so beyond Southport the mouth of the river separates two barrier islands: Bald Head Island to the east and Oak Island to the west. Here is a photograph from Southport looking south to the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

You can only get to Bald Head Island by boat: there are no bridges. It is more-or-less a private island with vacation rentals, but you can take the pedestrian ferry for a day-trip. There are no cars on Bald Head, only electric golf carts. Bald Head Island is about four miles long from east to west. The mouth of the Cape Fear River is on the west of the island. Here is a picture from the Bald Head Island side of the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

The oldest lighthouse in North Carolina is on Bald Head Island. It’s named “Old Baldy”. Here is a picture of Old Baldy.

On the southeasternmost point is the actual Cape Fear. The shoals of Cape Fear are named Frying Pan shoals, and they extend forty or fifty miles out into the ocean. Even out that far, the shoals can be shallow enough for waves to break on them and ships to run aground on them. These shoals are so treacherous that early explorers gave the Cape its sinister name. Many times when the seas are rough, the swells will roll into each other from opposite sides of the Cape. If you’re sitting on the spit of sand watching the rough seas, it can be very dramatic. When the waves crash into each other they send spray way up into the sky—dozens if not hundreds of feet high.

My friend had his wedding reception out on the Cape when Tropical Storm Sandy was bearing down on the North Carolina coast in 2012. This was before she became a hurricane, then a superstorm, and wreaked havoc in the northeast. Fortunately for us, her effects were limited to torrential downpours, tropical-storm-force winds, and unbelievably rough seas on the shoals that provided a dramatic backdrop for the reception. Here is a picture of the shoals that night.

[photo of surf at Cameron’s wedding]