Much of the Confederate Sugar Loaf Line of earthwork defenses-- a mile-long, man-made defensive structure begun in 1864 that stretched from the Sugar Loaf sand dune in Carolina Beach State Park along the Cape Fear River, has been flattened by progress over the years since then.
Ensuring that this did not happen to his part of the defensive line was always in Mr. Lewis' plans.
"He loved Federal Point (the name of the peninsula stretching southward from the Snow's Cut Bridge), he loved out historical society and he loved the area's history'" said Elaine Henson, president of the society. "He knew the earthworks were there and he wouldn't disturb them for anything. He gave it to the town to protect because he knew they could make a park of historical significance out of it."
That process, however, has been fraught with delays and more recently, the national reckoning with the very history that gives the park its importance.
--Old B-R'er
