Cape Fear is a

coastal plain A coastal plain (also coastal plains, coastal lowland, coastal lowlands) is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and an upland area. Formation Coastal plains can f ...

and Tidewater region of

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 ...

centered about the city of Wilmington. The region takes its name from the adjacent Cape Fear headland, as does the Cape Fear River which flows through the region and empties into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

near the cape. Much of the region's populated areas are found along the Atlantic beaches and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, while the rural areas are dominated by farms and swampland like that of the Green Swamp. The general area can be also identified by the titles "Lower Cape Fear", "Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area", "Southeastern North Carolina", and "Azalea Coast". The latter name is derived from the North Carolina Azalea Festival held annually in Wilmington. Municipalities in the area belong to the Cape Fear Council of Governments. The region is home to the Port of Wilmington, the busiest port in North Carolina, operated by the North Carolina State Ports Authority. It is also the location of Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, the largest ammunition port in the nation, and the U.S. Army's primary East Coast deep-water port.

Geography

The Cape Fear region is situated on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. A large portion of the region is low-lying

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

, most notably the Green Swamp, which is one of the rare habitats of the Venus flytrap. The Cape Fear River and the Northeast Cape Fear River are the deeper prominent rivers that flow through the region, with minor rivers like the Lockwood Folly River, Brunswick River, and Shallotte River providing access for small watercraft of small communities.

Counties

Three counties form the core of the Cape Fear region: Brunswick County, New Hanover County, and Pender County. At the 2020 census, the population of the three counties was 440,353. The coastal counties boast a large, seasonal tourism industry leading to much higher populations in the summer months and lower populations in the winter months. Two additional counties, Bladen and Columbus, are occasionally included as part of the Cape Fear region. Some broader definitions also include Duplin, Onslow, and Sampson counties.

Communities

Communities found in the Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area:

Cities

* Boiling Spring Lakes *

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

* Wilmington (principal city)

Towns

* Atkinson * Belville *

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

* Burgaw * Calabash * Carolina Beach * Carolina Shores *

Caswell Beach Caswell Beach is a small seaside town located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Cape Fear River in Southeastern North Carolina, United States. Occupying the eastern part of Oak Island (North Carolina), Oak Island in Brunswick County, Nort ...

* Holden Beach * Kure Beach * Leland * Navassa * Oak Island * Ocean Isle Beach * Sandy Creek * Shallotte * St. Helena * St. James * Sunset Beach * Surf City (partial) * Topsail Beach * Varnamtown * Wallace (partial) * Watha * Wrightsville Beach

Former towns

* Brunswick Town *

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

* Yaupon Beach

Villages

* Bald Head Island

Census-designated places

* Bayshore * Blue Clay Farms * Castle Hayne *

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

* Hightsville * Kings Grant * Kirkland * Masonboro * Murraysville * Myrtle Grove * Northchase * Ogden * Porters Neck * Rocky Point *

Sea Breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large ...

* Seagate * Silver Lake * Skippers Corner * Wrightsboro

Unincorporated places

* Ash *

Charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

* Currie * Figure Eight * Montague * Murphey * Piney Grove * Register * Sloop Point *

Supply Supply or supplies may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as ...

* Winnabow * Yamacraw

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 274,532 people, 114,675 households, and 75,347 families residing within the metropolitan statistical area (MSA). The racial makeup of the MSA was 79.47%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 17.27%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.48% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.05%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.12% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.45% of the population. The median income for a household in the MSA was $37,321, and the median income for a family was $44,844. Males had a median income of $32,454 versus $22,998 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the MSA was $20,287.

References

External links

Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning OrganizationCape Fear Council of GovernmentsInsiderInfo Guide to WilmingtonInsiderInfo Guide to SouthportInsiderInfo Guide to Topsail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Fear (Region) Coastal plains Geography of Brunswick County, North Carolina Geography of New Hanover County, North Carolina Geography of Pender County, North Carolina Regions of North Carolina