Cape Fear
Also known as: Promontorium tremendum, Cape Fair, Cape of Feare, Cabo de Trafalgar, Trafalgar, Cabo de
… the southernmost tip of Smith (Bald Head) Island, S Brunswick County, at the mouth of Cape Fear River in the Atlantic Ocean. Discovered by Verrazzano in 1524. Appears as Promontorium tremendum on the De Bry map, 1590, and as Cape of Feare on the Molyneuxmap, 1592. The name apparently originated in 1585 when the Tiger, en route to Roanoke Island, was nearly wrecked "on a breache called the Cape of Feare." John White had a similar experience and mentioned the name again in 1587. Spanish maps of the same period mark the point as Cabo de Trafalgar. At a later time, when it was desirable to attract colonists to the Carolina region, the name Cape Fair was substituted but not permanently accepted.
