Wilmington is the major city on the Cape Fear Peninsula. The city is flanked by the Cape Fear River to the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. There are a series of barrier islands off the coast, some are developed and some are preserved as open space and held in land trusts.
Wilmington is 2 hours southeast of Raleigh down Route 40 and 1 1/2 hours northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Population of the entire area is about 250,000 acording to the 2000 census.
