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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Cape Fear (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Cape Fear. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Cape Fear is located in Harnett County.

To see how the shape of North Carolina's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Harnett County: Chatham, Cumberland, Johnston, Lee, Sampson & Wake.

Below are the counties that are near Cape Fear. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Cape Fear:

  • Harnett County     (The home county of Cape Fear)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.
    • Lillington
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Shawtown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Kipling
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kipling have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kipling
      • Kipling is located in Harnett County
    • Buies Creek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Senter
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Senter. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Senter
      • Senter is located in Harnett County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Senter
      • From Cape Fear to Senter
    • Luart
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Luart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luart
      • Luart is located in Harnett County
    • Chalybeate Springs
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chalybeate Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalybeate Springs
      • Chalybeate Springs is located in Harnett County
    • Harnett
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harnett. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harnett
      • Harnett is located in Harnett County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Harnett
      • From Cape Fear to Harnett
    • Mamers
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Rawls
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rawls have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rawls
      • Rawls is located in Harnett County
    • Angier
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Barclaysville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Norrington Crossroads
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Chatham County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.
    • Corinth
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Brickhaven
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Haywood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Haywood. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haywood
      • Haywood is located in Chatham County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Haywood
      • From Cape Fear to Haywood
    • Moncure
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cary
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cary have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cary
      • Cary is located in Chatham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 173,587 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cary <1>
    • Farmville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farmville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmville
      • Farmville is located in Chatham County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Farmville <1>
    • Gulf
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gulf have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf
      • Gulf is located in Chatham County
    • Pittsboro
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Bynum
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bynum. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bynum
      • Bynum is located in Chatham County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Bynum
      • From Cape Fear to Bynum
    • Fearrington Village
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Carbonton
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Cumberland County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.
    • Linden
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Godwin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Wade
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Falcon
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Falcon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falcon
      • Falcon is located in Cumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 250 people
    • Manchester
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Manchester. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manchester
      • Manchester is located in Cumberland County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Manchester
      • From Cape Fear to Manchester
    • Spring Lake
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Lake
      • Spring Lake is located in Cumberland County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,980 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spring Lake <1>
    • North Point Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Point Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Point Village
      • North Point Village is located in Cumberland County
    • Eastover
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Shaw
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Fort Bragg
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Holly Springs
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
      • Holly Springs is located in Cumberland County
    • Bonnie Doone
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bonnie Doone have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie Doone
      • Bonnie Doone is located in Cumberland County
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bonnie Doone <1>
    • Fayetteville
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Durham County
    • Morrisville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morrisville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrisville
      • Morrisville is located in Durham County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 30,495 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Morrisville <1>
  • Johnston County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.
    • Benson
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Allens Crossroads
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Peacocks Crossroads
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • McKoy
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McKoy. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McKoy
      • McKoy is located in Johnston County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to McKoy
      • From Cape Fear to McKoy
    • Four Oaks
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Four Oaks have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Oaks
      • Four Oaks is located in Johnston County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,387 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Four Oaks <1>
    • Clayton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • West Smithfield
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Smithfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Smithfield
      • West Smithfield is located in Johnston County
    • Smithfield
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Fairfield
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fairfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairfield
      • Fairfield is located in Johnston County
    • Wilson's Mills
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Bentonville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Harper
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Harper. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harper
      • Harper is located in Johnston County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Harper
      • From Cape Fear to Harper
    • Archer Lodge
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Lee County
  • Moore County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.
    • Mount Pleasant
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Pleasant have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
      • Mount Pleasant is located in Moore County
    • Cameron
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cameron have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cameron
      • Cameron is located in Moore County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cameron <1>
    • Vass
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Lakeview
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Sampson County
  • Wake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.
    • Kennebec
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Fuquay - Varina
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fuquay - Varina have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuquay - Varina
      • Fuquay - Varina is located in Wake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,145 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fuquay - Varina <1>
    • Wilbon
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Wilbon. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilbon
      • Wilbon is located in Wake County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to Wilbon
      • From Cape Fear to Wilbon
    • Mount Pleasant
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Pleasant have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
      • Mount Pleasant is located in Wake County
    • Hollemans Crossroads
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Macks Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Macks Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macks Village
      • Macks Village is located in Wake County
    • Holly Springs
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
      • Holly Springs is located in Wake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 39,882 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holly Springs <1>
    • McCullers
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McCullers. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McCullers
      • McCullers is located in Wake County
      • Google driving directions:
      • From your current location to McCullers
      • From Cape Fear to McCullers
    • New Hill
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Apex
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Apex have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apex
      • Apex is located in Wake County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 64,388 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apex <1>
    • Indian Trail
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Trail have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Trail
      • Indian Trail is located in Wake County
    • Hopedale
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Garner
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Cape Fear, see our County-by-County Page for Cape Fear.

Cemeteries Near Cape Fear ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cape Fear.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Cape Fear covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<6>

While we didn't find Cape Fear in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Cape Fear.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Cape Fear, with the one closest to Cape Fear listed first.

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Cape Fear. See our List of 1890's Communities around Cape Fear.

Newspapers Published in Cape Fear ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cape Fear.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cape Fear, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cape Fear.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Cape Fear:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Cape Fear. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Harnett County: www.harnett.org/

The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cape Fear) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cape Fear. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4249, Longitude: -78.8149    
<6>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Cape Fear, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025