Founding the Cape Fear Museum

Cape Fear Museum’s collection is more than one hundred and sixteen years old. And the idea for the Museum is even older.

In 1895, as a group of women discussed joining the newly formed Daughters of the Confederacy, they declared “The First undertaking of the ‘Cape Fear Daughters of the Confederacy’ will be the collection and preservation of Confederate relics and records in a permanent museum for North Carolina.”

The history of the first decades of the Museum is entwined with the history of the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. One of the driving forces behind the local organization was Eliza Hall Nutt Parsley. Mrs. Parsley’s husband was William M. Parsley, an officer in the Confederate Army. The couplemarried during the war, and had 2 children. Colonel Parsley died in April 1865.

Mrs. Parsley helped found the Cape Fear Chapter of the UDC, which was the third chapter in the nation. And she helped found the state organization, serving as the first president of the North Carolina division.

Eliza Hall Nutt Parsley, one of the founding members of the local chapter of the UDC and of Cape Fear Museum CFM 2007.025.0012