Cape Fear Museum

Mission Statement:
Cape Fear Museum collects, preserves and interprets objects relating to the history, science and cultures of the Lower Cape Fear. The Museum makes those objects and their interpretation available to the public through educational exhibitions and programs. (Adopted 1995).

Museum History
A creditable museum of Confederate relics is what the ladies of Daughters of the Confederacy are determined to establish in Wilmington," announced the Wilmington Morning Star on January 20, 1898. The Confederate Museum began in a room in the Wilmington Light Infantry (WLI) armory. It's limited space did not limit its vision.

The onset of World War I in 1918 necessitated a move for the collection. It was sent to the North Carolina Hall of History in Raleigh for safekeeping.

After the war, the New Hanover County Historical Commission worked until 1929 to return the collection to Wilmington.

The Commission secured space in the New Hanover County Courthouse annex for the museum. North Carolina Sorosis, a local women's group managed the museum. They broadened collecting to include items of general interest and established an afternoon for public visitation.

In the early 1960s, the museum, now known as New Hanover County Museum, had outgrown its quarters. The fourth home became a floor of the city police station and New Hanover County provided an operating budget. A full-time director was hired to oversee Wilmington-New Hanover Museum, the name reflected the funding sources.

Growing pains again struck in the late ‘60s. The collection was moved to the National Guard Armory in 1970. In it's growing, professionalism took root. New Hanover County accepted full administrative control in July 1977. In 1979, the first clear-cut statement of purpose was adopted: to make available to the public the history, natural history and culture of the Lower Cape Fear area through interpretive exhibits and educational programs.

Eight years later, in 1987, New Hanover County voters passed a $4.2-million bond referendum to increase the museum's space from 12,750 square feet to approximately 42,000. In 1991 the name became Cape Fear Museum before the enlarged facility opened in 1992.

On May 5, 2000, Cape Fear Museum was awarded the profession's highest honor, nationally recognized accreditation by the American Association of Museums.