Cape Fear Museum

Cape Fear Museum of History and Science is a museum located at 814 Market Street in downtown Wilmington in southeastern North Carolina. Founded in 1898, it is the oldest history museum in the state.Museum scopeThe Cape Fear Museum was founded in 1898 by the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to preserve artifacts relating to the Civil War. Today, it is owned and operated by New Hanover County New Hanover, North Carolina. The Museum moved to its current location in 1970. The Museum's building is a combination of an historic structure—a 1930s Works Progress Administration armory—and a 1990s expansion.The museum has a collection of more than fifty two thousand artifacts, the vast majority of which are in storage. The Museum currently collects artifacts relating to the history, science, and cultures of the Lower Cape Fear, defined as a 50-mile radius around the city of Wilmington. In addition to New Hanover, the adjacent counties are Brunswick and Pender. The extended region encompasses portions of Columbus, Bladen, Sampson, Duplin, and Onslow counties.