Mission Statement:

"To advance through research, education and symposia, an increased public awareness of the Cape Fear region's unique history."

Judge Oliver Pendleton Meares

Cape Fear Historical Institute Papers

 This Page Is Under Construction!

"Among the positive and forceful characters of the Lower Cape Fear was Oliver Pendleton Meares. He had practiced for years with succes, when the interest of the State demanded the creation of a Circuit Court to include Mecklenburg as well as New Hanover County, Judge Meares was appointed to preside in this position, which he held for years with ability.

He had been Colonel of the 18th North Carolina Regiment during the

Civil War, and showed courage and ability. Judge Meares was was as

free from cant and hypocrisy as any man I ever knew, and would

frequently speak the unpleasant truth which actually wounded, and

made him unpopular with many people.

He was the brother of Thomas D. Meares, the elder, who was also a

very able lawyer, and who had died before the writer came to the Bar;

they were the sons of William B. Meares, who in the forties and fifties

was said to have been one of the ablest men of his day, reared in the

Cape Fear section. He had for years been a member of Congress and

was admired for integrity and ability, and possessed, it was said, an exceedingly strong personality and vigorous intellect."

(Memoirs of an Octogenarian, John D. Bellamy,

Observer Printing House, 1942, pp. 73-74)