Small Coastal Towns

The Brunswick Islands Area Towns

Towns Along The Southern Coast

North Carolina’s rich agricultural heritage is alive and thriving on the Southern coast area. In Whiteville, you can find out about our natural forests through interpretive and interactive exhibits at the North Carolina Museum of Forestry, or visit Lake Waccamaw State Park, noted for its so-called black water. You can enjoy recreational opportunities at other area state parks as well, including Jones Lake State Park, Singletary Lake State Park and Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest, all near Elizabethtown, where you’ll also find White Lake, famous for its crystal-clear water and white sand bottom.
 
Go south toward the beaches and you travel back in time. Fort Anderson, Brunswick Town State Historic Site, and the Colonial town of Southport  all offer a wealth of coastal history. In Southport you’ll find a treasury of antiques shops, historic homes and the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport as well as a stunning view of “Old Baldy,” North Carolina’s oldest operating lighthouse on Bald Head Island. For a day’s adventure, ride the private ferry out to the island or take the North Carolina Ferry over to Fort Fisher and back.
 
As for the beaches, the 45-miles of south-facing Brunswick Islands, the southern most of all of the North Carolina beaches, have one thing in common; you can watch the sunrise and the sunset over the water, but that’s where the similarities end. Each island is different, each beach unique.
 
Find whole sand dollars on the broad expanse of Sunset Beach in the morning and view the stars in the afternoon or evening at the Ingram Planetarium. Watch ships enter the Cape Fear River from Caswell Beach while you pick up angel wing shells or driftwood in the shadow of the Oak Island Lighthouse. Oak Island with its parks, canoe and kayak friendly areas and recreation trails, is an ideal haven for active nature lovers, while Holden Beach has long been known as a fisherman’s paradise. 
 
Serene Bald Head Island renowned as a safe haven for wildlife, waterfowl and loggerhead turtles, can be reached only by private passenger ferry with no cars allowed. Ocean Isle Beach offers marinas, shopping and the wonders of the Museum of Coastal Carolina and in October, plays host to the North Carolina Oyster Festival.
 
Actually there are several state festivals that take place throughout the year here. Eat your way from May to November at the North Carolina Strawberry Festival in Chadbourn, the North Carolina Watermelon Festival in Fair Bluff, the North Carolina Yam Festival in Tabor City, the North Carolina Oyster Festival in Ocean Isle Beach, and the North Carolina Pecan Harvest Festival in Whiteville.

On the mainland, Shallotte is the commercial and shopping hub for the area while Calabash, the “Seafood Capital of the World,” has over a dozen restaurants featuring local seafood delivered fresh off the fishing boats.
 
With five islands, six beaches, historic mainland towns and over 35 golf courses isn’t it time you started planning your Southern Coast and Brunswick Islands vacation? For more information, contact the Southport/Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce, the Columbus County Tourism Bureau, or the Tabor City Visitor Center.

By Pam Watson

added: January 2, 2009

updated: June 1, 2010