TThe first plantations on the Cape Fear were those of Barbadian settlers led by John Vassall, who attempted to colonize the region between 1664- 1667. The colonists spread up and down the river and its tributaries from a central trading post and compound at the mouth of Town Creek. Charles Towne, so named by the Barbadians to honor England’s King Charles II, failed after three years. Its settlers, numbering as many as 800 at the colony’s peak, left Cape Fear for places like Barbados, Massachusetts, Virginia and the settle-ment established by Sir John Yeamans at Port Royal to the south. While “King” Roger Moore’s Orton Plantation is perhaps the best-known plantation in the lower Cape Fear, there were many others. Looking at maps of the region, the names of great estates from days past litter the riverbanks and creeks that feed into the Cape Fear. Bald Head, Belvidere, Clarendon, The Forks, Greenfield, Hilton, Kendal and Lilliput are just a small sampling of the great land holdings that made the plantations of the lower Cape Fear the epicenter for commercial, social and political activ-ity in North Carolina. The influence of Cape Fear plantations and the men who owned them played an integral role in the development of the colony and state, one that would last until well into the 20th century. Plantations on the lower Cape Fear, the only river in North Carolina that has direct access to the Atlantic Ocean, initially traded in timber and shingles, as well as the tar, pitch and turpentine harvested from the abundant longleaf pines of the region. Collectively known as naval stores, the longleaf’s products were vital to ship-building efforts in England, 34 WBM november 2014 longleaf pine
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