35th Annual Conference Call for Papers!

Our 35th Annual NC Maritime History Council Conference will be held at Fort Fisher State Historic Site on December 4-6, 2025! Information on how to submit a paper to the conference and the conference theme can be found below. The deadline to submit a paper abstract is October 17, 2025!

Commerce, Labor, and War in the Carolinas

The Cape Fear River is the only waterway in North Carolina that flows directly into the Atlantic Ocean. Port records indicate that it was a significant entrepôt and shipping gateway for trade in the Caribbean and the Atlantic World. The landscape features archaeological evidence of the Cape Fear Indians and legends of the Yamasee War. Brunswick was an important colonial port before being superseded by Wilmington. Fort Anderson was constructed atop the remains of Brunswick during the Civil War and served as an integral part of the riverine defense system before the demise of the Confederacy. The Cape Fear region also represents the legacy of a significant rice culture during the 18th and 19th centuries. Rice cultivation relied heavily on enslaved labor, with plantations utilizing extensive systems of levees, ditches, and trunk gates to control the river's tidal flow. The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, a designated National Heritage Area, extends from Wilmington southwards. During World War II, Wilmington was home to several key shipyards that played a vital role in the war effort and is now home to the battleship USS North Carolina.

The theme of the 35th Annual NC Maritime History Council Conference is, “Commerce, Labor, and War in the Carolinas.”  Fort Fisher was a crucial part of the Civil War defense network. Soldiers, enslaved laborers, and conscripted Lumbee Indians built the fortification to guard New Inlet and protect blockade runners bringing supplies to the Confederacy. In proximity, the Cape Fear Civil War Shipwreck Discontiguous District, nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, encompasses one of the largest collections of shipwrecks in the USA. The conference venue also serves as the home of the NC Underwater Archaeology Branch, with a state mandate to manage North Carolina’s submerged heritage and historic connections to university maritime training centers such as the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the Program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University.

Papers should include some form of connection to the Carolinas or Mid-Atlantic region. While the conference committee accepts papers on all aspects of maritime history and archaeology related to the Carolinas, we especially encourage papers that speak to the conference theme as outlined above. Presentations (formal and informal) by students, both undergraduate and graduate, and independent researchers or members of the community are all welcome and encouraged.

To submit a paper, each individual or group should send an email with the paper/presentation title, authors/presenters, institutional affiliation(s), and a 150-word abstract to the Conference Committee of the NC Maritime History Council, ncmhcboard@gmail.com. The deadline to submit an abstract for consideration is Friday, October 17, 2025.