It is described as "a business and professional men's club"[1] that was founded in 1866 by former Confederate soldiers and incorporated in 1872 by the General Assembly.

[2] In 1892, the club purchased and moved into John Dawson Jr.'s house.

[3] The club owns paintings by Giovanni Battista Moroni, Pietro Liberi, and Guido Cagnacci.

[5] The club is a gentleman's only establishment that has been tied to high-profile events in Wilmington, North Carolina, in some cases related to the city's fraught racial history.

[7] Recently, a highly-profitable concert series was canceled based on concerns, according to Community Services Director Amy Beatty, that “the noise created by a concert would reasonably cause negative conflicts with events taking place in the Cape Fear Men’s Club (CFC) and potentially Thalian Hall.”[8]