TELLING THE STORIES THAT TELL THE CAROLINA STORY...
HOW WE BEGAN...
In the mid-1990s, Jack E. Fryar, Jr. made a living publishing several monthly magazines, among them Southern Book Trade (for book professionals in the South), and Congregations (news and features focused on the faith community in southeastern North Carolina). As a history fan, Jack decided to launch a third magazine, Coastal Chronicles, that would tell true, factually accurate stories about the 400 years of great history in North Carolina. Each month Coastal Chronicles distributed 10,000 copies of the free magazine at historic sites, hotels, bookstores, and other places where history lovers and tourists might find it. To his delight, the magazines usually disappeared within five to seven days of hitting the stands. School teachers in particular loved it, because the stories the magazine contained were excellent supplements to the North Carolina history curriculum they were teaching. But magazines are a time sensitive sort of publication, and the deadlines when you have paying advertisers are pretty unforgiving. What was needed was something with more forgiving deadlines, and a longer shelf life than monthly periodicals. So in 2001, Jack Fryar founded Dram Tree Books, a small press dedicated to producing works about the great history of North Carolina - particularly that of the Cape Fear and North Carolina coast. For the next one years, Jack published more than forty works of nonfiction history, and a handful of fiction titles via the short-lived Whittler's Bench Press. Dram Tree Books titles were carried by roughly 200 bookstores, museums, and gift shops in North Carolina alone. Add in vendors in South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia, and Dram Tree Books titles could be widely found in the southeast. Dram Tree Books and its authors garnered critical and popular praise for not just the new works of history the company produced, but also for the deserving classic works of North Carolina history that they brought back into print for new audiences.
...AND THEN THE RECESSION HIT...
The Great Recession of 2008 took a heavy toll on Dram Tree Books, as it did many other small businesses. Of the 200 places in North Carolina that carried our titles, roughly a third went completely out of business. The book customers who were left reduced their buying from 6-12 copies of a given title to 1-3 or less. Jack Fryar tried to keep the company afloat, hoping to ride out the bad times, but ultimately it became untenable. Dram Tree Books was forced to shut down by 2010. Jack used the time to return to school and earn a Masters degree in History from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. With an eye towards entering the classroom, he also earned a Masters in Teaching from UNCW's Watson School of Education. He still made the occasional book sale of titles still in stock, and bolstered his income by returning to radio as a part-time announcer at Sunrise Broadcasting's WKXB in Wilmington. Once school was finished, he secured a position teaching History at a Wilmington, N.C. high school..
...AND NOW WE'RE BACK!
Despite shutting Dram Tree's doors in 2010, Jack Fryar always hoped to resurrect the small publishing house. The books Dram Tree produced were in high demand by readers, and as the economy got back on an even keel, more and more old customers and potential new customers inquired as to when they would become available again. Then in March 2019, the last piece fell into place with the addition of a new member to the Dram Tree Books team. In May 2018, Dr. Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr., a legendary and distinguished Cape Fear historian and author, retired after a long career in the History Department of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He and Dram Tree Books publisher Jack Fryar were longtime friends, and so it was a natural fit for Fonvielle to join the Dram Tree family! Dr. Fonvielle brings an encyclopedic knowledge of North Carolina history and an author's keen eye to Dram Tree Books, helping out as a sounding board for potential new titles, and as an extra set of hands to get Dram Tree Books' titles where they need to be.
Meet the Dram Tree Books Team!
Jack E. Fryar, Jr. - Publisher
Jack E. Fryar, Jr. is a life-long resident of southeastern North Carolina, born and raised in Wilmington. He has been a professional writer and publisher since 1994. In 2000, Jack founded Dram Tree Books, a small publishing house whose titles tell the story of North Carolina and the Carolina coast. He has authored or edited twenty-eight volumes of North Carolina and Cape Fear history, and is a frequent lecturer for historic groups in the region. Jack has served on the board of the Friends of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, and is a member of several other history related friends groups. He is also the editor and publisher of a new digital magazine, Carolina Chronicles, covering the history of North and South Carolina. The free magazine debuted in September 2018, and you can access it by “liking” the Carolina Chronicles page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/CarolinaChronicles). He is also curator of two history related Facebook pages, The World History Timeline (www.facebook.com/TheWorldHistoryTimeline), and The American History Timeline (www.facebook.com/TheAmerican HistoryTimeline). His historical specialty is colonial North Carolina, particularly during the seventeenth century. Jack has served as a United States Marine, worked as a broadcaster, freelance magazine writer, sports announcer, and book designer. He holds a Master of Arts in History from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and a second Masters in Teaching with an emphasis on Secondary Education, and taught history at E.A. Laney High School for six years.
Dr. Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. - Editorial Consultant/Publisher's Representative
Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Chris E. Fonvielle Jr. is a native Wilmingtonian with a lifelong interest in American Civil War, North Carolina, and Cape Fear history. He attended public schools, including New Hanover High School, class of 1971, where he was the first soccer-style placekicker in North Carolina football history. After receiving his B.A. in anthropology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Chris served as the last curator of the Blockade Runners of the Confederacy Museum. He subsequently received his M.A. in American history at East Carolina University, and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. That makes Chris a Wildcat, a Seahawk, a Pirate, and a Gamecock.
After a brief teaching stint at East Carolina University, Dr. Fonvielle returned to his undergraduate alma mater at UNCW in 1996, where he taught courses on the Civil War, Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear, and Antebellum America. His in-depth research focuses on coastal operations and defenses, and blockade running in southeastern North Carolina during the Civil War. He has published books and articles including The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope; Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear: An Illustrated History; Fort Fisher 1865: The Photographs of T.H. O’Sullivan.
In 2014, then-Governor Pat McCrory appointed Dr. Fonvielle to the North Carolina Historical Commission. Upon his retirement from UNC Wilmington in 2018, Chris was presented with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for distinguished service to the State of North Carolina, signed by incumbent Governor Roy Cooper. He is also a regular tour guide for Wilmington Water Tours, a featured guest on “Cape Fear Unearthed” podcasts, and a contributor of articles on Cape Fear history for Salt Magazine. Dr. Fonvielle joined Dram Tree Books in January 2019.
After a brief teaching stint at East Carolina University, Dr. Fonvielle returned to his undergraduate alma mater at UNCW in 1996, where he taught courses on the Civil War, Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear, and Antebellum America. His in-depth research focuses on coastal operations and defenses, and blockade running in southeastern North Carolina during the Civil War. He has published books and articles including The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope; Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear: An Illustrated History; Fort Fisher 1865: The Photographs of T.H. O’Sullivan.
In 2014, then-Governor Pat McCrory appointed Dr. Fonvielle to the North Carolina Historical Commission. Upon his retirement from UNC Wilmington in 2018, Chris was presented with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for distinguished service to the State of North Carolina, signed by incumbent Governor Roy Cooper. He is also a regular tour guide for Wilmington Water Tours, a featured guest on “Cape Fear Unearthed” podcasts, and a contributor of articles on Cape Fear history for Salt Magazine. Dr. Fonvielle joined Dram Tree Books in January 2019.