Hurricanes are a reality of living on the coast. You can't stop, you can only prepare for them. But what about the hurricanes that plagued the earliest residents of the region?

This week's episode explores the storms that ravaged the Cape Fear from 1713 to 1954, the year Hurricane Hazel blew through and changed this region – and its relationship with hurricanes – forever.

The episode features a conversation with "North Carolina's Hurricane History" author Jay Barnes about how colonial and antebellum residents prepared for storms and what we've learned from two centuries of savage hurricanes.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

Season three is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "North Carolina's Hurricane History (Fourth Edition)," by Jay Barnes

-- "Hurricane Hazel in the Carolinas," by Jay Barnes

-- "The Great Hurricanes of North Carolina," by John Hairr

-- "Hurricane Hazel Lashes Coastal Carolinas: The Great Storm in Pictures," by Art Newton and the Wilmington Printing Company

-- Wilmington Morning Star archive, 1954