Cape Fear 471799 221039565 2008-06-22T20:02:54Z Wirthi 350378 iw de: :''This article is about the geographical feature on the coast of North Carolina. For other uses, see [[Cape Fear (disambiguation)]].'' {| width="300" align="right" |----- | [[Image:Wpdms nasa topo cape fear.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Cape Fear, on the coast of North Carolina.]] |----- | [[Image:Nasa photo cape fear.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Cape Fear in a NASA satellite photo, showing the estuary of the Cape Fear River.]] |} '''Cape Fear''' is a prominent [[Headlands and bays|headland]] jutting into the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] Ocean from [[Bald Head Island]] on the coast of [[North Carolina]] in the southeastern [[United States]]. It is largely formed of barrier beaches and the silty outwash of the [[Cape Fear River]] as it drains the southeast coast of North Carolina through an [[estuary]] south of [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]]. The cape is the southernmost point of the state of North Carolina, formed where two sweeping arcs of shifting low-lying beach intersect, the result of [[longshore currents]] which also form the treacherous, shifting [[Frying Pan Shoals]], part of the ship graveyard of the Atlantic. [[Dune]]s dominated by [[sea oat]]s occur from the upper beach driftline back to the stable secondary dunes, where they mix with other grasses such as [[Saltmeadow Cordgrass]] and [[panic grass]], as well as [[seaside goldenrod]], [[spurge]], and other herbs to form a stable salt-tolerant [[grassland]]. The Cape Fear estuary drains the largest watershed in North Carolina, containing 27% of the state's population. [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]], the Italian explorer sailing for France, made landfall at Cape Fear on his voyage to the New World in the spring of [[1524]] or [[1525]].{{Fact|date=February 2008}} The name (variously "Cape Fair" and "Cape Fare", a sept of the Scots' Ross Clan) comes from the 1585 expedition of Sir [[Richard Grenville]]. Sailing to [[Roanoke Island]], his ship became embayed behind the cape. Some of the crew were afraid they would wreck, giving rise to the name Cape Fear. It was the second English name, after Virginia, bestowed upon the coast of what later became the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last= Stewart |first= George R. |authorlink= George R. Stewart |title= Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States |origyear= 1945 |edition= Sentry edition (3rd) |year= 1967 |publisher= [[Houghton Mifflin]] |page= p. 22}}</ref> Landing place of General Clinton during the American Revolution on May 3, 1775. ==See also== *[[Geography of North Carolina]] ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Headlands of North Carolina|Fear]] [[de:Cape Fear (North Carolina)]]