Brunswick Islands offer sun, surf, seafood and seaside scenery
SHALLOTTE, N.C. – With spring in the air, many travelers’ fancies are lightly turning to sun, surf and seafood.
Located between Cape Fear and Myrtle Beach, North Carolina’s Brunswick Islands (ncbrunswick.com) contain all of those seaside delights and much more.
The region comprises several islands and beach towns, each with its own vibe and traditions, but all offering some combination of lovely ocean views, sandy beaches, natural beauty, world-famous seafood and intriguing visitor attractions. With so much variety, nearly every ocean-loving traveler will find something to treasure.
Just down the coast from Cape Fear and the lovely little tourist town of Southport — a worthy destination in itself — is Oak Island, the largest of the region’s barrier islands.
The community of Oak Island has a smalltown feel, with streets lined by shade trees including venerable live oaks dripping Spanish moss. Visitors will also find two fishing piers, four kayak launches, several boat ramps, more than 60 public beach access points and the Oak Island Lighthouse (oakislandlighthouse.org).
The lighthouse, maintained by the adjacent town of Caswell Beach, is quite unusual. Built in 1958, the structure is one of the last lighthouses erected in the United States and resembles a tall, slender grain elevator. It was, in fact, built by a silo-construction company.
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Visitors who come for a free tour won’t find the traditional spiral staircase of older lighthouses. Instead, a series of ships’ ladders extends nearly 140 feet up to the observation gallery.
From there, visitors who look up the coast toward Cape Fear can see the lighthouse’s chronological antipode, the Bald Head Island Lighthouse (oldbaldy.org), also known as “Old Baldy,” built in 1817 and the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina.
In the opposite direction, a panorama of long sandy beaches and intriguing coastal towns eventually lures all visitors away from the mesmerizing view back to ground level. (Either that, or a watch-tapping guide.)
Continuing along the coast toward South Carolina brings visitors to Holden Beach, linked to the mainland by a massive and delightfully curvaceous bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, the channel that offers safe passage to small vessels all along the Eastern Seaboard.
The waterway is also a great place for some quiet saltwater paddling, with kayak rentals available. Also along the waterway are some great seafood restaurants — some serving up the day’s catch from the shrimp boats which dock nearby.
On the ocean side of the island is an iconic fishing pier — you can fish for $9 or walk out to watch the angling action or admire the view for just a buck.
After a visit, it’s easy to see why Holden Beach was named one of the best family beaches in the country by National Geographic Traveler.
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A bit further down the coast, explorers reach Ocean Isle Beach, with miles of quiet sand, a lively little beach community and a wide variety of lodging options, including rental homes and condos and oceanfront hotel rooms.
Just inland is Silver Coast Winery (silvercoastwinery.com), one of the best and friendliest wineries in the southeast. Winemaker Dana Keeler produces some exceptional wines modeled after traditional European styles. The winery’s labels, designed by local artists, are also delightful.
Nature lovers will enjoy all of the Brunswick Islands, but perhaps especially Sunset Beach, known as a birdwatchers' paradise. Despite the town’s name, the coast here, like most of the Brunswick Islands, trends east-west, so it’s quite possible to get glorious views of both the sunset and sunrise, depending on the season.
The island has very little commercial development, and visitors who want to get their nature on can hike to Bird Island Reserve, an undeveloped 1,200-acre stretch of dunes, salt marshes and tidal creeks.
Although great seafood can be found throughout the Brunswick Islands, many hungry visitors choose to dine in the little village of Calabash, set along the fertile marshy channels near the South Carolina border. Calabash-style fresh seafood — lightly breaded with cornmeal and deep-fried — gets its name from the town, which is brazen enough to claim the title “Seafood Capital of the World.” But after several delicious meals there, I would not argue the case against that claim.
For more information about North Carolina’s Brunswick Islands, visit ncbrunswick.com.
Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: North Carolina's Brunswick Islands offer seafood and scenery
