Between 1913 and the early 1930s, three locks and dams were constructed in the Cape Fear River. Located at King's Bluff, Elizabethtown, and south of Fayetteville, the locks modernized the river, which increased navigability as well as commerce.
Anecdotal historical information is provided about Fort Caswell, a fortification on the mouth of the Cape Fear River used for guarding the main seaway into in North Carolina.