Moon Coastal Carolinas Read online

  HIGHLIGHTS

  PLANNING YOUR TIME

  INFORMATION AND SERVICES

  Wilmington

  SIGHTS

  ENTERTAINMENT AND EVENTS

  SHOPPING

  SPORTS AND RECREATION

  ACCOMMODATIONS

  FOOD

  NORTH OF WILMINGTON

  TRANSPORTATION

  The Southern Coast

  KURE BEACH

  BALD HEAD ISLAND

  SOUTHPORT

  OCEAN ISLE

  SOUTH ALONG U.S. 17

  TRANSPORTATION

  Points Inland from Wilmington

  ALONG U.S. 74

  FAYETTEVILLE

  a pier at Lake Waccamaw.

  The Cape Fear region is part of the Caribbean culture that stretches up through the south Atlantic coast of North America—a world that reflects English, Spanish, and French adaptation to the tropics and, above all, to the profound, transformative influence of African cultures brought to the New World by enslaved people. Wilmington is part of the sorority that includes Havana, Caracas, Port au Prince, Santo Domingo, New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston. All exhibit the richness of Afro-Caribbean culture in their architecture, cuisine, folklore, and speech.

  The area between Wilmington and Lumberton in the state’s southeast corner is a strange, exotic waterscape (more so than a landscape) of seductively eerie swamps and backwaters. In this little band of coastal counties straddling the state line, within a 100-mile radius of Wilmington, is the native habitat—the only one in the world—of the Venus flytrap, a ferocious little plant of rather ghastly beauty. It somehow seems like an appropriate mascot for these weird backwaters.

  The greatest draw to this region, even more than colonial cobblestones and carnivorous plants, are the beaches of Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, and Onslow Counties. Some of them, like Wrightsville and Topsail, are well known, and others remain comparatively secluded barrier island strands. In some ways the “Brunswick Islands,” as visitors bureaus designate them, can be thought of as the northern edge of the famous Grand Strand area around Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. No part of this region could be mistaken for Myrtle Beach, though; even the beaches that are most liberally peppered with towel shops and miniature golf courses will seem positively bucolic in comparison.

  HISTORY

  The Cape Fear River, deep and wide, caught the attention of European explorers as early as 1524, when Giovanni de Verrazzano drifted by, and two years later, when Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón and his men (including, possibly, the first enslaved Africans brought to the present-day United States) walked around before proceeding to their appointment for shipwreck near Winyah Bay in South Carolina. Almost 150 years later, William Hilton and explorers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony visited. They were either unimpressed with what they saw or knew they’d found a really good thing and wanted to discourage other rival claims, because they left right away and posted a sign at the tip of the cape to the effect of, “Don’t bother; the land’s no good.”

  Highlights

  Look for S to find recommended sights, activities, dining, and lodging.

  S Wilmington’s Historic District: North Carolina’s largest 19th-century historic district is a gorgeous collection of antebellum and late Victorian townhouses and commercial buildings, including many beautiful Southern iterations of the Italianate craze that preceded the Civil War (click here).

  S Wrightsville Beach: North Carolina has many wonderful beaches, but few can compare with Wrightsville for its pretty strand, easy public access, clear waters, and overall beauty (click here).

  S USS North Carolina: This enormous gray battleship, veteran of the Pacific theater of World War II, is permanently berthed on the Cape Fear River and open for tours of its decks and fascinating, labyrinthine interior (click here).

  S Hammocks Beach State Park: Accessible only by boat, one of the wildest and least disturbed Atlantic coast beaches is a popular stopover for migrating waterfowl and turtles (click here).

  S Museum of the Native American Resource Center: This small but high-quality museum in Pembroke highlights the culture and artifacts of the local Lumbee people (click here).

  S Lake Waccamaw State Park: The central feature of this scenic area is a large example of a Carolina Bay, a unique geographical feature with a diverse surrounding ecosystem (click here).

  It wasn’t until 1726 that European settlement took hold, when Maurice Moore claimed the banks of the river on behalf of a group of allied families holding a patent to the area. Moore platted Brunswick Town, and his brother Roger established his own personal domain at Orton. Brunswick was briefly an important port, but it was soon eclipsed by Wilmington, a new settlement up the river established by an upstart group of non-Moores. By the time of the Revolution, it was Wilmington that dominated trade along the river.

  The Lower Cape Fear region, particularly present-day Brunswick, New Hanover, Duplin, Bladen, and Onslow Counties, had a significantly larger enslaved population than most parts of North Carolina. The naval stores industry demanded a large workforce, and the plantations south of the river were, to a large extent, a continuation of the South Carolina Lowcountry economy, growing rice and indigo, crops that also led to the amassing of large populations of human chattel.

  During the Civil War, Wilmington’s port was a swarming hive of blockade runners. Its fall to the Union at the late date of January 1865 was a severe blow to the sinking Confederacy. Commerce allowed the city to weather the Civil War and Reconstruction, and it continued to grow and flourish.

  In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, southeastern North Carolina’s most prominent role is military. Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, is one of the country’s largest Army installations, and the home base of thousands of the soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. Nearby Pope Air Force Base is the home of the 43rd Airlift Wing, and at Jacksonville, the U.S. Marine Corps’ II Expeditionary Force, among other major divisions, are stationed at Camp Lejeune. Numerous museums in Fayetteville and Jacksonville tell the world-changing history of the military men and women of southeastern North Carolina.

  PLANNING YOUR TIME

  Wilmington is an easy drive from pretty much anywhere in this region, giving ready access to the beaches to the north and south. It’s so full of sights and activities that you’ll probably want to stay here, and give yourself a day or more just to explore the city. If you’re planning on visiting the beaches south of Wilmington, you might also want to consider staying in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, about 20 minutes’ drive (with no traffic—in high season it’s a very different story) on U.S. 17 from the state line. Farther inland, you’ll find plenty of motels around Fayetteville and Lumberton, which are also a reasonable distance from Raleigh to make day trips.

  INFORMATION AND SERVICES

  The several area hospitals include two in Wilmington, Cape Fear Hospital (5301 Wrightsville Ave., 910/452-8100, www.nhhn.org) and the New Hanover Regional Medical Center (2132 S. 17th St., 910/343-7000, www.nhhn.org); two in Brunswick County, Brunswick Community Hospital (1 Medical Center Dr., Supply, 910/755-8121, www.brunswickcommunityhospital.com) and Dosher Memorial Hospital (924 N. Howe St., Southport, 910/457-3800, www.dosher.org); two in Onslow County, Onslow Memorial Hospital (317 Western Blvd., Jacksonville, 910/577-2345, www.onslowmemorial.org) and the Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune (100 Brewster Blvd., Camp Lejeune, 910/451-1113); and Fayetteville’s Cape Fear Valley Medical System (1638 Owen Dr., Fayetteville, 910/609-4000, www.capefearvalley.com). Myrtle Beach’s Grand Strand Regional Medical Center (809 82nd Pkwy., Myrtle Beach, SC, 843/692-1000, www.grandstrandmed.com) is not too far from the southernmost Brunswick communities. In an emergency, of course, calling 911 is the safest bet.

  Extensive travel and visitor information is available from local convention and visitors bureaus: the Wilmington/Cape Fear Coast CVB (23 N. 3rd St., Wilmington, 877/406-2356, www.cape-fear.nc.us, Mon.-Fri. 8:30am-5pm, Sat. 9am-4pm, Sun. 1pm-4pm), and the Brunswick County Chamber of Co
mmerce (4948 Main St., Shallotte, 800/426-6644, www.brunswickcountychamber.org, Mon.-Fri. 8:30am-5pm).

  Wilmington

  In many cities, economic slumps have an unexpected benefit: historic preservation. With Wilmington’s growth at a standstill in much of the 20th century, there was no need to replace the old buildings and neighborhoods. As a result, downtown Wilmington has remained a vast museum of beautiful architecture from its early days, and that historic appeal accounts for much of its popularity today as a destination.

  Hollywood noticed the little city a couple of decades ago, and Wilmington has become one of the largest film and TV production sites east of Los Angeles. Sleepy Hollow, Homeland, and Eastbound & Down are just some of the series filmed here, and noteworthy movies filmed at least partly in Wilmington include Forrest Gump, Iron Man 3, The Conjuring and many more (though not, ironically, either version of Cape Fear). It’s not unlikely that you’ll happen on a film crew at work while strolling through the city.

  SIGHTS

  S Historic District

  Wilmington is to 19th-century architecture what Asheville is to that of the early 20th century. Having been the state’s most populous city until around 1910, when Charlotte and its Piedmont neighbors left the old port city in their wake, Wilmington’s downtown reflects its glory days of commerce and high society. This is North Carolina’s largest 19th-century historic district, a gorgeous collection of antebellum and late Victorian townhouses and commercial buildings, including many beautiful Southern iterations of the Italianate craze that preceded the Civil War.

  The Bellamy Mansion (503 Market St., 910/251-3700, www.bellamymansion.org, tours hourly Tues.-Sat. 10am-5pm, Sun. 1pm-5pm, $10 adults, $4 under age 12) is a spectacular example of Wilmington’s late-antebellum Italianate mansions. This enormous white porticoed house ranks among the loveliest Southern city houses of its era. Built by planter Dr. John Bellamy just before the outbreak of the Civil War, the house was commandeered by the Yankees after the fall of Fort Fisher, and a trip to Washington DC and a pardon granted personally by President Andrew Johnson, a fellow North Carolinian, were required before Bellamy could pry his home out of government hands. In addition to the mansion, another highly significant building stands on the property: the slave quarters. This confined but rather handsome two-story brick building is one of the few surviving examples in the country of urban slave dwellings. Extensive renovations are underway to restore the quarters to its early appearance.

  The Burgwin-Wright House (224 Market St., 910/762-0570, www.burgwinwrighthouse.com, tours Feb.-Dec. Tues.-Sat. 10am-4pm, $10 adults, $5 under age 12) has an oddly similar history to that of the Bellamy Mansion, despite being nearly a century older. John Burgwin (the emphasis is on the second syllable), a planter and the treasurer of the North Carolina colony, built the house in 1770 on top of the city’s early jail. Soon thereafter, Wilmington became a theater of war, and the enemy, as was so often the case, took over the finest dwelling in town as its headquarters. In this case, the occupier, who had a particularly fine eye for rebel digs, was General Cornwallis, then on the last leg of his campaign before falling into George Washington’s trap. The Burgwin-Wright House, like the Bellamy Mansion, is a vision of white-columned porticoes shaded by ancient magnolias, but the architectural style is a less ostentatious, though no less beautiful, 18th-century form, the mark of the wealthy merchant and planter class in the colonial South Atlantic and Caribbean world. Seven terraced sections of garden surround the house; they are filled with native plants and many original landscape features, making an intoxicating setting for an early spring stroll.

  Yet another beautiful home in the historic district is the Zebulon Latimer House (126 S. 3rd St., 910/762-0492, www.latimerhouse.org, Mon.-Fri. 11am-1pm, Sat. 10am-3pm, $10 adults, $4 children). The Latimer House is several years older than the Bellamy Mansion, but in its day was a little more fashion-forward, architecturally speaking. Latimer, a merchant from Connecticut, preferred a more urban expression of the Italianate style, a blocky, flat-roofed design with cast-iron cornices and other details that hint at the coming decades of Victorian aesthetics. Also located on the grounds is a very interesting two-story brick slave dwelling. The Latimer House is the headquarters of the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, whose archive of regional history is important to genealogists and history preservationists.

  If you’d like to visit the Bellamy Mansion, Latimer House, and Burgwin-Wright House, be sure to buy a three-house ticket at the first house you visit. For $24, it will save you several bucks over what you’d pay were you to buy a ticket at each stop.

  S Wrightsville Beach

  Wrightsville Beach, just outside of Wilmington, is easily one of the nicest beaches in the coastal Carolinas, which is a linear kingdom of beautiful strands. The beach is wide and easily accessible, visitor- and family-friendly, and simply beautiful. The water at Wrightsville often seems to be a brighter blue than one is accustomed to seeing this far north on the Atlantic coast, lending the feeling of a tropical beach. Wrightsville enjoys warm summertime water temperatures, a very wide strand, and lots of lodging and rental choices along the beach. Numerous public beach access points line Lumina Avenue, searchable at www.townofwrightsvillebeach.com; some are wheelchair-accessible and some have showers or restrooms. The largest public parking lot, with 99 spaces, is at Beach Access No. 4 (2398 Lumina Ave.); No. 36 (650 Lumina Ave.) also has a large lot. They all fill up on busy days, but if you press on from one access point to the next, you’ll eventually find a spot.

  Historic Sights Around Wilmington

  MOORE’S CREEK NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD

  Not surprisingly, given its importance as a maritime center, the environs of Wilmington have seen much military action over the last 300 years. About 20 miles northwest of Wilmington, outside the town of Currie, near Burgaw, is the Moore’s Creek National Battlefield (40 Patriots Hall Dr., Currie, 910/283-5591, www.nps.gov/mocr, daily 9am-5pm except Thanksgiving Day, Dec. 25, and Jan. 1). The site commemorates the brief and bloody skirmish of February 1776 in which a Loyalist band of Scottish highlanders, kilted and piping, clashed with Patriot colonists. The revolutionaries fired on the Scotsmen with cannons as they crossed a bridge over Moore’s Creek, which they’d previously booby-trapped, greasing it and removing planks. About 30 of the Loyalist soldiers died, some drowning after they were blown off the bridge. An important moment in the American Revolution, it was also a noteworthy occasion in Scottish military history as the last major broadsword charge in Scottish history, led by the last Scottish clan army.

  downtown Wilmington

  S USS NORTH CAROLINA

  Docked in the Cape Fear River, across from the Wilmington waterfront at Eagles Island, is the startling gray colossus of the battleship USS North Carolina (Eagles Island, 910/251-5797, www.battleshipnc.com, Memorial Day-Labor Day daily 8am-8pm, Labor Day-Memorial Day daily 8am-5pm, $12 adults, $6 under age 13). This decommissioned World War II warship, which saw service at Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and many other important events in the Pacific theater, is a floating monument to the nearly 10,000 North Carolinians who died in World War II as well as a museum of what life was like in a floating metal city.

  Tours are self-guided and include nine decks, the gun turrets and the bridge, crew quarters, the sick deck, and the Roll of Honor display of the names of North Carolina’s war dead. Allow at least two hours to see it all. Visitors prone to claustrophobia might want to stay above deck; the passageways and quarters below are close, dark, and very deep. From the heart of the ship it can take quite a while to get back out, and on a busy day the crowds can make the space seem even more constricted. (Just imagine how it would have felt to be on this ship in the middle of the Pacific, with nearly 2,000 other sailors aboard.)

  The battleship is also one of North Carolina’s most famous haunted houses, as it were—allegedly home to several ghosts who have been seen and heard on many occasions. The ship has been featured on the Syfy Channel and on ghost-hunting television sho
ws. Visit www.hauntednc.com to hear some chilling unexplained voices caught on tape.

  OAKDALE CEMETERY

  In the mid-19th century, as Wilmington was bursting at the seams with new residents, the city’s old cemeteries were becoming overcrowded with former residents. Oakdale Cemetery (520 N. 15th St., 910/762-5682, www.oakdalecemetery.org, daily 8am-5pm) was founded some distance from downtown to ease the subterranean traffic jam. It was designed in the parklike style of graveyards popular at the time, and soon filled up with splendid funerary art—weeping angels, obelisks, willows—to set off the natural beauty of the place. (Oakdale’s website has a primer on Victorian grave art symbolism.) It’s a fascinating place for a quiet stroll.

  Wilmington waterfront

  Museums

  CAPE FEAR MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND SCIENCE

  The Cape Fear Museum of History and Science (814 Market St., 910/798-4370, www.capefearmuseum.com, Labor Day-Memorial Day Mon. and Wed.-Sat. 9am-5pm, Sun. 1pm-5pm, Memorial Day-Labor Day Mon.-Sat. 9am-5pm, Sun. 1pm-5pm, $7 adults, $6 students and seniors, $4 ages 3-17) has exhibits about the ecology of the Cape Fear and its human history. Special treats are exhibits about giant indigenous life forms, including the prehistoric ground sloth and Michael Jordan.

  LOUISE WELLS CAMERON ART MUSEUM

  The Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum (3201 S. 17th St., 910/395-5999, www.cameronartmuseum.com, Tues.-Wed. and Fri.-Sun. 10am-5pm, Thurs. 10am-8pm, $8 adults, $5 students, $3 ages 2-12) is one of the major art museums in North Carolina, a very modern gallery with a good permanent collection of art in many media, with a special emphasis on North Carolina artists. Masters represented include Mary Cassatt and Utagawa Hiroshige. Special exhibits change throughout the year.