Death of Paul Laird-- Part 2: Chris Fonvielle's Condolences

I went to the Wilmington Funeral site and read the condolences.  I seemed to remember that Paul Laird had something to do with the Friends of Fort Fisher even though the obituary just said he worked at Fort Fisher.

One of those condolences was from Chris Fonvielle.  I knew Chris Fonvielle from his days at the Blockade Runner Museum in Carolina Beach, North Carolina.

I will write his words here:

"I extend my deepest sympathies to Kay, Matt, Ben and the entire Laird family for their unexpected loss.  Paul was one of my oldest, closest, and dearest friends, dating back to our days as undergraduates at UNC Wilmington in the 1970s. Were it not for Paul Laird, I may not have become a professional historian.

He was responsible  for getting me the job of curator of the former Blockade Runner Museum in Carolina Beach, N.C. in 1979 and, as it turned out, the last curator of the museum.  When New Hanover County purchased the Blockade Runner Museum's collection and moved it to the Cape Fear Museum in 1983, I decided to attend graduate school and pursue a career as an academic historian.

Joined Up With the Federal Point Historic Preservation Society Again

This past Tuesday I paid my membership dues for three years ($20 a year)with this outstanding organization in Carolina Beach, North Carolina.  I have belonged to it for six years now and sure wish I lived closer so I could take more advantage of their programs and do some work as well.

They are located on the present-day Carolina Beach Town Hall and offices which used to be the Blockade Runner Museum (which I so enjoyed and actually almost became an assistant curator there back in the 1980s).   The structure the society's museum is in was also part of the Blockade Runner's grounds and was reputed to either be a real slave auction structure or a recreation of one.  It has since been enclosed for the organization.

Federal Point is the original name of the long peninsula formed by the Cape Fear River and Atlantic Ocean.  Fort Fisher was at the southern extremity of it.  During the Civil War, it was renamed Confederate Point.  Now it (between Carolina Beach and Kure Beach) is referred to as Pleasure Island.  When Snow's Cut was constructed to connect the Cape Fear River and Myrtle Sound as part of the Intercoastal Waterway, the peninsula became, in effect, an island.

When the organization was formed , there was thought of calling itself Pleasure Island Historic Preservation Society,  but that was deemed to be not serious enough for a history group, so the origainal name was taken.

Good Move.  --Old B-Runner

Chris Fonvielle's Doing Some Fort Fisher Talking

Now that he is retired from being a history professor at University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Dr. Fonvielle is sure doing a lot of talking.  And, when it comes to the Civil War history of the Wilmington area, I know of no one more knowledgeable or qualified.

Today, May 18, he will be giving a talk on "Fort Fisher 1865:  The Photography of Timothy O'Sullivan" at a Friends of Fort Fisher fundraiser at the fort.  He has written a book on these photographs.  I was impressed when he was with the Blockade Runner Museum back in the early 1980s and he had a complete set of the photographs of O'Sullivan.

Afterwards there will be a walking tour of the remaining sites Mr. O'Sullivan photographed back in 1965.  The talk begins at 10 a.m., EDST at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site at Kure Beach, N.C..

Then, Monday, May 20, he will make a presentation on the Battle of Sugar Loaf, January 19 and February 11, 1865, at the Federal Point Historic Preservation Society at Carolina Beach, N.C..  Sugar Loaf was a major battle in the attempt of the Union Army to capture Wilmington after the fall of Fort Fisher.

--Old B-Runner

The Blockade-Runner Condor-- Part 2: Rose O'Neal Greenhow Drowned

More famous than the ship herself was one of her passengers,famous Confederate spy and supporter Rose O'Neal Greenhow, who died in the surf when her small boat overturned while making her escape from the vessel.

Tradition maintains that she was weighed down with vital dispatches to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and $2,000 in gold.

There is a diorama of her death from the old Blockade Runner Museum at the Carolina Beach Town Hall on US-421.  She was buried in Wilmington's Oakdale Cemetery.

--Old B-R'er

Rose O'Neal Greenhow Diorama At Carolina Beach Town Hall

If you visit the Carolina Beach, North Carolina, Townhall on US-421 (right next to the Federal Point Historical Museum) you can see a diorama of the death of Rose O'Neal Greenhow, as her longboat from the blockade runner Condor overturned in heavy surf and she drowned.  There are several other Civil War Cape Fear dioramas as well.

The Greenhow diorama and the other ones were originally in the Blockade Runner Museum which closed in the 1980s and were stored until a few years ago at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington.

I used to spend a lot of time at the Blockade Runner Museum and it is good to see the dioramas again.  The Cape Fear Museum also has the diorama of Fort Fisher and the Wilmington riverfront during the war which are on display..

--Old B-Runner

Carolina Beach (NC) Town Hall Gets Historic Fort Fisher Exhibits New Life-- Part 1

From the June 9, 2016, WWAY 3 ABC  (Wilmington, NC) by Taylor Yakowenko.

Four exhibits will be unveiled next week at the Carolina Beach Town Hall on US-421.  The Friends of Fort Fisher were instrumental in getting these exhibits.  They were originally a part of the collection of the long-closed Blockade Runner Museum in Carolina Beach, according to Friends of Fort Fisher executive director Paul Laird.

The diorama inserts had been in storage in the basement of the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington for over 30 years and not accessible to the public.

I remember seeing these exhibits often as the Blockade Runner Museum was a major hang out for me back when I was growing up.  As a matter of fact, the Carolina Beach Town Hall is located in the building that used to be the Blockade Runner  Museum, so, in effect, the exhibits are returning to their former home.

I Know Where I'm Going This August.  --Old B-Runner

Local Woodworking Company Selected to Build Fort Fisher Exhibit Cases

From the March 18, 2016, PR.com.

Anchor Wood Products has been selected by the Friends of Fort Fisher, Inc. to provide custom built exhibit cases for the Fort Fisher State Historic Site.  It is a local Wilmington-area company and will use local craftsmen to make them.

They will be providing five cases to house dioramas that were originally in the long-gone Blockade Runner Museum in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, which opened in the 1960s and closed in the 1980s.  When it closed, the entire collection was purchased by New Hanover County for the Cape Fear Museum on Market Street.

The diorama of the Wilmington waterfront during the war and Fort fisher were displayed, but there was not enough space for five other dioramas and they remained in storage until acquired recently by the Fort Fisher site in Kure Beach.

This Is Great News!  --Old B-Runner

A Good Time At Fort Fisher in 1982

From my journal.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1982  Thirty years ago.

"We went by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, or UNC Wonderful as it is commonly called, and toured the area.  It is definitely a beautiful campus and growing fast.

I also went to the Blockade Runner (Museum).  Chris Fonvielle offered me a position next year as Assistant Director at from between $15-18,000 a year salary.  He said we could do great things if we teamed up on our research.

I told him that he certainly knew a lot more about Fort Fisher than I did, but he replied that was only because he had always lived there.  I walked from the B-R back to the cottage."

I went to Fort Fisher at 4.  "I met Wilson and Jim Legg there.  Ron, Wilson, Mary, Jim and I drove out to the main Union line."

 That offer from Chris sure had me thinking about it.  That was around what I was earning teaching in Illinois and to have the chance to be that close to Fort Fisher.  That would be a dream come true.

To Fisher or Not to Fisher.  --Old B-R'er

Old B-Runner

A Mighty Good Time at Fort Fisher 30 Years Ago-- Part 2

AUGUST 3RD, 1982

Ran again without Julie.  She does not like to get up at 6:30 AM to run.  After swimming, I went to Fort Fisher and found still more material to copy.

Ron and Mary believe Gehrig is a poor site manager as he has been there for 17 tears and has done little in the way of improving the exhibits or making anything along the walking tour which would better enable persons to relate to the fort.


AUGUST 4TH, 1982

Ran to Fort Fisher with Julie and then back to Kure Beach.  Sat on the pier and walked back to Carolina Beach.  Seemed a very long walk back as the beach sand is very slanted and the only flat areas consist of the soft stuff.  Both are extremely hard on the feet.  Julie says she will not do this again.

I went to the Blockade-Runner where I stayed until Bob picked me up at 4:45.

Still Not Getting My Fisher Fill.  --Old B-Runner

My Great Summer at Fort Fisher-- Part 9

From my journal, July 30, 1982.

"At closing (of Fort Fisher), Mary (Hollowell) drove me to the Blockade Runner where we met Jim Legg who works there.  We bought some beer and then backtracked to Fort Fisher.  Jim has done extensive research and legwork on the fighting that occurred there and up the peninsula.

He showed me Camp Wyatt, the Union camp and lines, lunettes, bullet trench (near Dowd Road, the site of the battle and the entrenchments that are left on Sugar Loaf.  The battle site is primarily a big lake now as that is the place all the sand on the beach came from..  Jim could hardly mention the Army Corps of Engineers and not put expletives in front of it.  It is always sad to lose a Civil War site of any sort but progress must go on.  Jim had even prepared an accurate map for us to use."

This Was Quite the Walk-About.  --Old B-R'er

My Great Summer At Fort Fisher-- Part 5: The Blockade Runner Museum and Chris Fonvielle

Taken from my journal. 

JULY 29, 1982

"I went to the Blockade Runner Museum in the morning.  I am sorry to learn that they will be closing the place down at the end of this year.  They say they are not doing enough business in their present location and they are selling the building to a church.  Then, they will either move the collection to a site near the USS North Carolina or perhaps near Fort Fisher.

There is some hope that the state will buy it but that is not likely because of the budget tightening.  There is a distinct possibility that the collection will be broken up which will be an unfortunate eventuality should it occur.

The Foards, I found out, never owned the B-R, but operated and helped construct it.  The real ownership rests with a group of private investors.  Jim Legg and Chris Fonvielle were working in there.  Chris is very involved with Fort Fisher and has recently spent $300 getting half of the O'Sullivan pictures of Fort Fisher printed from their original negatives.

We spent some time examining the prints in detail with a special magnifier.  We picked out two torpedoes lying at the Mound Battery that looked just like the one at the Fort Fisher Museum.  He is also making up a chart of the Union order of battle for both battles.  He makes me look like I don't know anything about the battle."

Meeting Mr. Fort Fisher Thirty Years Ago.  --Old B-Runner

My Great Summer at Fort Fisher-- Part 1

I am reading my journal from 1982, thirty years ago, and found that was when I spent a fantastic two whole weeks at Carolina Beach, spending my time jogging, swimming, sitting out on the beach, doing research at Fort Fisher and visiting the Blockade Runner Museum and enjoying the nightlife.  (I started my journal back in the summer of 1978 and sure wish I'd been keeping it before that.  It is amazing what I forget.)

That was one great way to spend some time.

I was just getting started in my deejay business and teaching school in Round Lake, Illinois.  I stayed for two weeks at Aunt Anna Mae's cottage on Carolina Beach's Southern Extension.  The first week was with my parents and the second with my brother and sister and their families.

Why, one day I even jogged to Fort Fisher.

I'll Be Going Back Into the Journal and Writing My Fort Fisher-related experiences.