As seen from a bench overlooking the Cape Fear River in Dram Tree Park.

Dram Tree Park is a small park with a boat/kayak launch, a shoreline lawn area, and several benches with an excellent view of the Cape Fear River and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.

It's a great spot to watch the sun set with a nice view of the bridge and the occasional boat passing under it. You can also hear the muted rush of cars as they traverse the bridge - some might find that relaxing, while others might find it distracting.

The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that was opened on October 1, 1969. The bridge has a span of about 408 feet and provides for about a 69-foot vertical clearance.

• GoogleMaps: Overhead view of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and Dram Tree Park

What is the Dram Tree for which this park is named?

The answer comes from an article by Ben Steelman, a reporter for the Wilmington StarNews entitled, oddly enough, What is the Dram Tree?
_{The Dram Tree is, or was, a bent, somewhat scraggly cypress tree, covered with Spanish moss, that stood several yards out in the Cape Fear River, at a marshy patch on the east bank, near the present location of the State Port and the Sunset Park neighborhood.}

_{The tree was a landmark to mariners from colonial times. Passing it meant that an incoming vessel had successfully passed the dangerous Frying Pan Shoals at the mouth of the Cape Fear. According to tradition, ships paused near the Dram Tree, and sailors were allowed a dram of rum, grog (watered-down rum) or some other potent potable, either to celebrate a safe passage coming on or to toast to a safe return while sailing out. As state Rep. George L. Morton put it in 1909, the Dram Tree “umpired loving cup conviviality and good fellowship on the Lower Cape Fear.”}

_{The Dram Tree was destroyed sometime in the 1940s by dredging of the Cape Fear in connection with activity at the N.C. Shipbuilding Co., located approximately where the State Port is today.}

_{In 1988, the City of Wilmington opened Dram Tree Park in its memory, on the riverfront, just north of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge near the intersection of Castle and Front streets, Wilmington. A young cypress was planted as a replica near the park’s boat ramp.}

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• You can see a picture of this replica young cypress tree that was planted in Dram Tree Park in the Wilmington NC image collection by Bill Starke on Pinterest.

• CapeFearLivingMagazine.com: Legend of the Dram Tree, October 8, 2016

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All images @cognoscere and taken on 05/14/2017 at the Castle Street Dram Tree Park in Historic Old Wilmington, North Carolina (Sony RX100 V)