Join local historian and author Chris E. Fonvielle Jr. for a talk and signing on his latest book, “More Curious Tales from Old Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear: The Truth Behind the Legends.”

The book is the second installment in his “Curious Tales” series and includes freshly researched examinations of some of the Cape Fear’s most enduring stories.

Admission is free, a $10 donation is suggested.

About the Speaker
Chris E. Fonvielle Jr. is a native Wilmingtonian with a lifelong interest in American Civil War, North Carolina, and Cape Fear history. He attended public schools, including New Hanover High School, class of 1971, where he was the first soccer-style placekicker in North Carolina football history. After receiving his B.A. in anthropology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Chris served as the last curator of the Blockade Runner Museum. He subsequently received his M.A. in American history at East Carolina University, and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. That makes Chris a Wildcat, a Seahawk, a Pirate, and a Gamecock.

After a brief teaching stint at ECU, Dr. Fonvielle returned to his undergraduate alma mater at UNC Wilmington in 1996, where he taught history courses on the Civil War, Antebellum America, and the Lower Cape Fear. He has published books and articles including The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope and Fort Fisher 1865: The Photographs of T.H. O’Sullivan. In 2020, he published Curious Tales from Old Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear: The Truth Behind the Legends.

Upon his retirement from UNC Wilmington in 2018, Dr. Fonvielle was presented with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for distinguished service to the State of North Carolina, signed by Governor Roy Cooper.