Prohibition ushered in an age of rule breakin’ and hooch makin’ in America, and the Cape Fear region played host to it all.
Illegal moonshining operations, public drunkenness and home speakeasies kept Wilmington-area Prohibition officers busy beginning in 1909 when North Carolina became a dry state – a full decade before the whole country followed suit.
On this week's season finale episode, we talk about why North Carolina was quick to pass Prohibition, how it eroded public adherence to authority, where its impacts are still felt today and what led to the brutal moonshine-related murder of two officers in 1924.
Joining the discussion is special guest Jan Davidson, the historian for the Cape Fear Museum.
Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.
Season three is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.
Sources:
-- "Prohibition in North Carolina," by Daniel Jay Whitener
-- "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition," by Daniel Okrent
-- "Memories Yesteryear," by Dr. Robert M. Fales
-- "Moonshiners and Prohibitionists: The Battle Over Alcohol in Southern Appalachia," by Bruce Stewart
-- Research provided by Cape Fear Museum
-- Wilmington Morning Star editions, 1909-1924
Christmas shopping in the downtown Wilmington of yesteryear
Film documentary 'McKinley's Guns' digs into 1898 coup
'Race, Place and Memory': Wilmington's troubled racial history
When Shell Island was an island, and a Black beach resort
Revisiting The Barn: a legendary Wilmington jazz club and dance hall
A brief history of Eagles Island and Wilmington's 'west bank'
Wilmington corner stores, gone but not forgotten
Roots of the GOAT: Michael Jordan's history in Wilmington
Train tracking: The lost Wilmington, Brunswick & Southern Railroad
Losing, and preserving, Black historic sites in Wilmington
Photographic memories: Wilmington's history in photos
Wilmington's Temple of Israel: storied past, building a future
The curious case of the Christmas flounder
Preserving history, one window and door at a time
Commemorating 1898, and the search for descendants
The bridges of New Hanover County
Ideal location: Wilmington film history and the Ideal Cement factory
Century club: Wilmington's 100-year-old businesses
Wilmington goes to the movies: bygone theaters and drive-ins
Historic Wilmington Foundation takes the past into the future
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