This is the area that we have been playing in - the Cape Fear River area. Our campground is near Fort Fisher. This map also shows the unsuccessful Civil War blockade runners around Cape Fear. Today, we went to Southport (formerly called Smithville), the home of one of the most successful of the blockade runners, T.M. Thompson. (Smith Island on this map is also called Bald Head Island and is where the point of Cape Fear is located - the very bottom tip of the island).

It was supposed to be a warm gorgeous day. It turned out to be marginal. Mostly grey with some occasional sun. The breeze picked up a bit and had a bite to it. That was disappointing because I wanted to go out to Cape Fear.

Cape Fear is on an island, called Bald Head Island. It required two ferry rides. The first ferry is a $7 car ferry to Southport. That was no problem. We drove on board and rode the 8 miles or so to Southport.

Saturn is enjoying the ride too.

The ferry from Southport to Bald Head Island was a passenger-only ferry. It is a private ferry and is expensive. That means no transportation on the island except expensive shuttles. It is 5 miles from the ferry landing to the Cape. Walkable, but a 10 mile roundtrip is quite an investment if the weather is iffy. Reluctantly, we decided not to go to Cape Fear.

Instead, we explored Southport. This grand old town had some of the coolest old mansions around. Founded in 1792 and originally named Smithville after Colonel Smith of the Continental Army during the Revolution, seemed to have potential as a port, a strategic military position, and a commercial seafood center, that it never quite realized.

During the Civil War, Southport gained some notoriety by being an important blockade running port. Blockade runners, like Thomas Mann Thompson, made a fortune sneaking past the Union blockade. Like all of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the shoals were tricky and treacherous. Being skilled at avoiding maritime catastrophe was a marketable skill.

In 1887, Smthville was renamed Southport in an effort to promote the town as a shipping center. Seafood was always one of its principal commercial enterprises. In fact, for a time around the turn-of-the-century, it became a major shrimp canning center and was a major shrimp supplier to restaurants in New York City. The irony being that locals at that time never thought of shrimp as anything but fish bait. I bet it was quite the surprise when New Yorkers sought out shrimp as a delicacy.

At a current population of 4,000, it never did blossom into that mega-shipping port. This, in my estimation, is actually a good thing. Southport remains a small, but very pretty town right off Cape Fear where the Cape Fear River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Southport Market is one of the coolest combination general store/soda-fountain store/antique store I have seen. I love old signage and Southport Market has dozens of old commercial signs in excellent condition. When I was a kid, my dad had an old metal toy dump truck. It was pretty beat up and very scary. When you activated the dumping mechanism, it just about whacked the crap out of you if your head, hand, elbow, or any body part for that matter, was in the way. The metal toy vehicles at Southport Market were all in pristine shape and none looked to be as lethal as my dad’s old toy.

Wanda calls this architectural style ‘coastal colonial’. The wrap-around porches are my favorite feature. As you will see, there were a lot of these circa 1800s to 1910’ish homes, nicely restored and maintained in Southport. With a small population of 4,000, it must have been a wealthy community from it inception in 1792.

The Walker-Pyke house. All the homes had plaques identifying when they were built. This was the oldest home in Southport.

This is the Civil War blockade runner, Thomas Mann Thompson’s house. The info plaques below supply good info on T.M. And his house. Notice, he was a ‘licensed’ smuggler. I would have thought that anyone attempting to smuggle goods through the Union blockade would be welcomed. Bureaucracy and paperwork powered even the Confederacy.

Southport’s waterfront.

I didn’t find out what happened to that thriving shrimp industry. It is gone without a trace, save this info plaque.

There were still some mom’n’pop fishing stores.

I love the name, ‘Fishy Fish Cafe’. I am betting that they specialize in seafood.

The Amzul Theater has had quite the history, from silent movies to talkies.

Inside the Southport Market General Store.

Metal toys without the ‘fear factor’.

My dad had the 3 hp Evenrude version of this motor. It was a bullet proof workhorse for little rowboats. The OMC (Outboard Marine Corporation) made Evenrude/Johnsons. They also built motors for Montgomery Wards, as I suspect this was the case for this Ward’s motor.

Sadly, we watched the passenger ferry run out to Bald Head Island a couple of times without us on board. Although I second-guessed our decision not to go, the wind was cold, the sky was a drab overcast, and besides, I had my sights on Venus Flytraps.

As an alternative to Cape Fear, I had read about a hiking trail through the Green Swamp. This swamp featured wild-growing ferocious carnivorous Venus Flytraps and Pitcher Plants. This was a tentative alternative at best. With all the rain from the storm, will the swamp be too wet? Are Venus Flytraps and Pitcher Plants active in November?

When the last ferry to Bald Head Island sailed off, we had nothing to lose. The Green Swamp was only about 20 miles away - off we went.

The trail, much to our relief was not only dry, the swamp itself was bone dry. I had read that it can be very buggy. Not in November, as we found out. And Venus Flytraps and Pitcher Plants are both active this late in the fall. We found several patches of both plants. Even though there weren’t hardly any insects around, I did see a few bugs being eaten by Flytraps. Jeez, what a cruel world we inhabit - being slowly eaten alive by a plant is not a pleasant way to go, even for a bug.

Charles Darwin called the Venus Flytrap, “One of the most wonderful plants in the world”. Not if you are a bug. The Latin name is Dionaea muscipula. Dionaea is the goddess of love. Muscipula means mousetrap. Now that is worth knowing. Another tidbit is that these loving mousetraps live in poor soils and need the animal protein to make up for the lack of soil nutrients.

The swamp was dry, even with the rain dropped by Nicole.

There was one small lake at the fringe of the Green Swamp.

Notice the insect trapped in the pod on the far right. Poor guy was still alive and wiggling.

Pitcher plants turn a blood-vein red as they die off for the season.

Just an interesting plant. I have no idea as to what it is.

These big fluffy southern pine seedlings are quite different from our northern variety.

We returned to camp via the ferry. Although it never rained, it stayed dreary. I am glad we didn’t go out to Cape Fear, but I do miss the ‘cool-factor’ of visiting such an intriguingly named spot on the globe. ‘Cape Fear’, it does have a beguiling ring to it.

Our last ferry ride. I will miss North Carolina’s fine ferry system.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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