The Cape Fear region is never short on fascinating tales to tell, so this week we are launching a new recurring episode called the Cape Fear Classics.

Each season, we will produce one episode that shares three short stories from the area's history books. This week, we're starting out with the legendary ancient Dram Tree that welcomed mariners into Wilmington's harbor for centuries, the peculiar mystery of the Seneca Guns and the origin of Monkey Junction's namesake.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram.

Additional editing by Adam Fish. Recorded at WHQR in downtown Wilmington.

A StarNews Media Production. This season is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry.

Sources:

"Stories Old and New of the Cape Fear Region" by Louis T. Moore

"What is the Dram Tree?" by Ben Steelman, StarNews MyReporter

"Legend of the Dram Tree," by Paige Brown, Cape Fear Living Magazine

"Land of the Golden River," by Lewis Philip Hall

"Earthquake Booms, Seneca Guns, and Other Sounds," U.S. Geological Survey

Various articles, StarNews Archives

"Beginnings of familiar people and places," StarNews, April 2007