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58 Chromcles of the Cape Fear River

to the Gulf. Along the shining beach, from Fort Fisher to Fort
Caswell, its foaming breakers run and roar, the racing steeds of
Neptune, with their white-crested manes, charging and reform-
ing for the never-ending fray.

The adjacent plantation of Kendal, originally owned by
“King” Roger Moore, from whom it passed to his descendants,
was later the property of James Smith, a brother of Gov. Benja-

min Smith, and it was here, near the banks of Orton Creek,

which divides this estate from the splendid domain of Orton,
that the quarrel between the Smith brothers ended by the de
parture of James to South Carolina (where, in 1834, his six
sons assumed their grandmother’s name, Rhett, and became the
founders of the famous Rhett family), leaving his intolerant
and choleric brother, Benjamin, to a succession of misfortunes,
disappointments, and distresses, which brought him at last to a
pauper’s grave.

Behind Kendal is McKenzie’s milldam, the scene of a battle
between the British troops and the minute men from Brunswick
and Wilmington, when, in 1775, the British fleet lay in the
river.

We linger at Orton, the most attractive of all the old colonial
estates on the Cape Fear. For a hundred and eighty-nine years
it has survived the vicissitudes of war, pestilence, and famine,
and it still maintains its reputation of colonial days for a refined
and generous hospitality. Here, in the exhilaration of the
hunter, the restful seclusion of the angler, the quiet quest of the
naturalist, the peaceful contemplation of the student, is found
surcease from the vanities and vexations of urban life. For
nearly two centuries it has been a haven of rest and recreation
to its favored guests.

“Here, like the hush of evening calm on hearts opprest,
In silence falls the healing balm of quiet rest,
And softly from the shadows deep

The grand oaks sing the soul to sleep
On Nature’s breast.”

The house, or Hall, built by “King” Roger Moore in 1725,
with its stately white pillars gleaming in the sunshine through
the surrounding forest, is a most pleasing vista to the passing
mariner. The river view, stretching for ten miles southward
and eastward, includes “Big Sugar Loaf,” Fort Anderson, Fort
Buchanan, and Fort Fisher.

We love its traditions and its memories, for no sorrow came

 

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