Along the Cape Fear

The Henrietta on a Cape Fear cruise

The Cape Fear River is a richly diverse ecosystem that winds its way for 200 miles from Central North Carolina through the port of Wilmington to Southport where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name.  For centuries, the river has been integral to life in Wilmington, for which it has always been a hub of transportation, recreation and commerce.

WHQR is Wilmington’s public radio station, richly diverse in its programming and commitment to the local community. The station takes its name from the hope of a merry band of visionaries back in the 1980s for High Quality Radio to serve a burgeoning cultural Mecca. For 27 years, 91.3 FM has offered the soundtrack for life and culture in the Cape Fear region.

On Friday night, August 5, these two Southeastern North Carolina treasures came together for me, as I enjoyed a Cape Fear River cruise with friends, old and new, who are the backbone of WHQR, my radio station of choice. When you are a WHQR listener, you feel as though the local hosts are your friends, and when you meet them in person, they are as interesting and friendly as you hoped they would be.

I listen to WHQR in my car, in my home, and, when I have to be away at work out of town, I listen on my computer. WHQR is simply the best in community public radio.  WHQR’s innovative, sophisticated, eclectic mix of original local programming is the perfect complement to a roster of programs that are among the best that national public radio has to offer – Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Garrison Keillor’s shows, Talk of the Nation, This American Life, Fresh Air, Selected Shorts and many more.

There aren’t many radio stations on which you regularly hear the likes of Mozart, Vivaldi, Rogers and Hammerstein, Gershwin, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, the Metropolitan Opera, Duke Ellington, a little Celtic music, and emerging artists like North Carolina’s own Jeanne Jolly, all in one day! There is no other radio station where you will hear the voice of the late Claude Howell, Wilmington’s most famous painter and one of its most colorful characters, as he tells stories of the city’s past.  The local commentaries, the talented and knowledgeable local hosts, and the weekday interviews with the movers and shakers of the local community and the cultural calendar keep you thoroughly entertained, informed and in the loop on all things Wilmington.  WHQR, itself, is a major player in the arts community, partnering with Thalian Hall on the Cinematique film series, hosting art exhibits in its Front Street studio gallery, and serving as a media sponsor for many cultural activities.

WHQR is an invaluable community resource, and it’s up to listeners like you and me to send a few dollars each year to make sure it continues to grace our airways and lives.

The Cape Fear River is another vital resource that represents the heart and soul of Wilmington, which originally developed as a thriving port centered on the river.

Like I said, the river has always been an important part of life in Wilmington. The more you learn about the Cape Fear, the more you will want to support the ongoing efforts to preserve its natural beauty and historic charm as a major port of call and an environmental wonderful.

Our group found out first-hand that a Wilmington Water Tour cruise aboard “The Wilmington,” a state-of-the-art catamaran river tour boat, is a great way to learn more about the Cape Fear. Captain Doug Springer gives you an eye-opening tour along the river, sharing historical and environmental points and facts of interest. He clearly has a passion for the Cape Fear and visions of great things in its future. He offers a variety of excursions from morning to night, but we took a sunset evening cruise this time around, which took us up the Northeast Cape Fear River where the landscape looks much as it has since the 1600s, when the first development took place along the river at old Brunswick Town and Wilmington. We also crossed under the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge to get a glimpse of the modern-day NC State Port and its cargo ships, giant cranes, and the tug boats that work the river.

Captain Doug, a Cape Fear Community College graduate,  has not only made a thorough study of the history of the Cape Fear and the port of Wilmington, he knows a great deal about the birds, fish, turtles, otters and alligators that make their home in and around the Cape Fear River basin.  We were all captivated by his commentary and local knowledge.

As a Wilmington native, I have a lifetime of memories associated with the Cape Fear River, from the day in October 1961 when, perched in the window of my father's riverfront office in the historic U.S. Customs House (now the Alton Lennon Federal Building and Courthouse), I watched the Battleship North Carolina come to town, to the day in 1969 when my dad took me to walk over the towering new Cape Fear Memorial Bridge on the special pedestrian day before it opened to vehicular traffic on October 1 that year. Another childhood memory is eating with my family in the early 1960s at Fergus Ark, a floating restaurant docked at the foot of Princess Street.

Thanks to my WHQR friends, old and new, and Captain Doug for an enchanted Wilmington evening that I will treasure among my favorite Cape Fear River memories.

Mary Virginia Swain 

Click on any image to enlarge it and to view a slideshow of all photos or visit http://maryvirginiaswain.shutterfly.com/ to view the pictures, download them, or order prints.

Wilmington Waterfront

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Diligence calls Wilmington its home port.

PPD world headquarters - a modern touch to Wilmington's riverfront skyline

Captain Doug Springer at the helm of The Wilmington

WHQR friends take in the river views.

Tug Boat

Enjoying the beauty of the Northeast Cape Fear River

The Henrietta makes its way up the river with the smokestacks showing the industrial aspect of the Cape Fear.

Wilmington riverfront

The Battleship North Carolina

WHQR friends

Enjoying a lovely evening on the Cape Fear

The Battleship

Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is getting a new coat of paint.

Tugboats pilot cargo ships into and out of port.

Cameron, Mary, and Barbara

Cleve is the caption of the ship at WHQR, and Capt. Doug gives him a turn at the helm of The Wilmington.

Old friends

Jemila and Barbara

Barbara and Nancy

WHQR staffers

Two of WHQR's best volunteers

Coastal Odyssey

Dock at Calabash

Varnamtown, NC

With a tank full of gas, an old-fashioned paper road map, and a spirit of curiosity and adventure as our compass, a good friend and I headed out on a day-long odyssey along the Southeastern North Carolina coast into South Carolina on a hot and humid July 28. We made no particular plan but to see where the road took us and who we might encounter along the way.


We drove over the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, leaving Wilmington in the rear view mirror with an open road ahead. We turned off Highway 17 South headed for the quaint town of Southport, an old fishing village and sleepy little town that is now North Carolina's Independence Day mecca. Before Southport, we took a detour on the road to Orton Plantation to look for alligators in Orton Pond. We spotted one small gator in the water just off the road. Down the road in Southport, we explored the quiet streets lined with historic homes shaded by graceful live oak trees, the waterfront that featured a welcome cool breeze off the river, and the Franklin Art Gallery housed in the old public school house in the town square. Old Southport is a great place to take a step back to a slower and more peaceful way of life of days gone by. From the waterfront in Southport, you can see both the oldest and newest lighthouses in North Carolina - Old Baldy, which is over 200 years old, and the Oak Island Lighthouse, which was built in 1958.

We enjoyed a tasty lunch at Taylor Cuisine Cafe, featuring Southern and coastal favorites like fried-green tomatoes, fried chicken, crab cakes, sweet potato fries and large glasses of ice-cold sweet tea.

Back on the road, we mapped out the course for Varnamtown, a fishing village on the Lockwood Folly River near Holden Beach. Along the Holden Beach road, we happened upon Mary Paulsen and her visionary art, her doll house village, her bottle houses and sculptures. It's the doll houses that catch your attention and lure you in, but it's Mary and her folk art that can keep you there for hours browsing her collection and just enjoying the gift of conversation with such a charismatic character. The 10th child of a Brunswick County shrimper, Mary has lived an interesting life.

You catch a glimpse of the doll houses as you drive by and something tells you that you have to turn the car around and see what they're all about. You just know that there is something special there. Mary built the labyrinth of doll houses to house her collection of over 6,000 dolls. Donations from visitors to her village have been used to feed thousands of hungry children. But, that was just the beginning of Mary's creative wonderland and ventures. Learn more about Mary at marysgonewild.com.

Just as she says God told her to build the doll houses in 1996, Mary tells the story of how God called her again in 1998 to paint happy, colorful pictures she envisions on old windows and most any other worn out material she can recycle into something beautiful. She says she has her visions first thing in the mornings. And, so she paints. She paints pictures as vividly colorful and whimsical as she is. Mermaids with bad hair days. Flowers. Birds. Fish. Watermelon bird houses. Suns. Moons. Geometric patterns. Jackson Pollock splatters. Whatever comes in her visions. They are spectacular. Mary and her art just make you smile. And, in the process, she helps the Feed the Children program and keeps a lot of junk out of the landfill. Once you meet Mary, you will never forget her or the experience of visiting her doll village and garden of wonders. You will want to go back to see her again and again.  If you go, remember that Mary only takes cash and "good checks."

We could have spent the entire day with Mary but, back on our way with a carload of Mary's treasures to take home, we finally made it to Varnamtown. It's the real-deal, old-time shrimping operation, and yet another step back in time with a glimpse into the rugged life of shrimpers, who labor to keep fresh, local shrimp on our tables. Most of the docks there have been lost to development of the area which is beautifully quiet and artistically scenic, so let's hope they can keep what's left going as part of our coastal heritage and a source of good, Atlantic coast shrimp.

After a stop for fresh summer bounty at Holden Brothers Produce on Highway 17, the map pointed us south of the border to the bustling waterfront at Little River, South Carolina. The docks there are as busy as Grand Central station with hordes of folks boarding the casino and charter fishing boats and eating and drinking in dockside restaurants along the waterway.

We finished our day of adventure with a seafood feast at the Dockside in Calabash, serving the best of Calabash style seafood, which never disappoints. There's always a crowd lined up for dinner at the Dockside, so there's always a good-long wait before you hear your name called for a table. The wait is actually part of the fun. It gives you time to lazily explore the docks and watch the fishing boats come in from the day to unload their catch and just enjoy the golden sunlight over the marshes at the end of the day.

No trip to Calabash would be complete for me without an after-dinner stop at Callahan's Nautical Gift Shop/St. Nick Nack's Christmas Shoppe - http://callahansgifts.com/. The shop is so long in size that's it's a great little walk after a big dinner, and filled with treasures and treats to browse and buy. From Hermit crabs to seashell souvenirs to fresh fudge in a multitude of flavors to fine gifts for the home and, of course, the thousands of Christmas decorations, it's a 35,000 square foot shopper's paradise.

Mary Paulsen with me in her gallery

Dockside at Calabash - my mom and I dined here several times a year for many years.

Fishermen bring in the day's catch.

Calabash waterfront

Casino ship at Little River, SC

Dockside hotspot at Little River, SC

Garland's Seafood at Varnamtown, NC

Gator in Orton Pond

Fellow Travelers

Mary's Doll House Village

Shrimp boat docked at Varnamtown, NC

Calabash Dock Cat

Water lilies in Orton Pond

I promised this young man that if he caught me a fish, I would take his picture. We both came through on our promise.

Mary Paulsen's gallery is full of happy treasures.

Waterfront at Southport

At this spot on the Southport riverfront, you are halfway between Nantucket and Key West.

My old friend Cathy and my new friend Mary

One of Mary's bottle houses filled with her art.

Varnamtown view

More treasures in Mary's garden

After a long day on the road and in the hot sun, we dialed in the soothing sounds of WHQR public radio (another Cape Fear treasure) for the hour drive on 17 North through the dark back to Wilmington. Our coastal odyssey was more than we could have ever tried to meticulously plan. On a lazy summer day like this, it's better to just let serendipity be your guide.

Mary Virginia

Click on any of the images to enlarge them and to view a slideshow of all photos.