This is one of the most beautiful Coastal cities you will ever visit. We have been going here on…read morevacation since I was a little kid. My father actually grew up here and the city has certainly change over the years into a great tourist destination. Beautiful homes are everywhere in and around the city as well as some of the best dining you will find anywhere. You are just minutes to some of the best beaches in the state where you can still rent a "beach house" for a week and spend your vacation staying right on the water in a fully furnished house instead of cramped in a hotel room

Oak Island Lighthouse NC 3-1-25 This lighthouse is in…read moreCaswell beach NC. It looks like it's made of cement and built in 1958. You can climb it but you have to reserve a guided tour online then you can climb it. It is 153 feet high and has ships ladders for steps to get to the top. You will have to go a total of 131 ladder steps. This beach area is beautiful, and we had to add this Lighthouse to our tour. Open house tours are offered Memorial Day through Labor Day Wednesday & Saturday. Other than the Lighthouse and beach there is nothing else to see. I would not make a special trip to see it but if you're in the area or want to add it to you list of seen Lighthouses go for sure. I give this Lighthouse a 4 out of 5 stars. Follow Me On Fb For More Reviews Gulf Coast Terry

Went to see this lighthouse with my family expecting some boring lighthouse. No it's not boring. I…read moreactually had a good time here and the beach access is very close which is also nice. I don't know much about lighthouses but I know this is a good one

The Fort Johnston-Southport Museum and Visitors Center is the perfect place to start off your visit…read moreto Southport, NC. It's a great way to get acquainted with this small town and learn a little about their film and local history. The building dates back to 1746 and is perfectly situated across from the water, with chairs out front to sit in to enjoy the view. Best of all, it's free to visit. I especially loved the room with exhibits about movies and television shows that have been filmed in Southport over the years (they were filming a Netflix show on the waterfront when I visited). It's also the meeting point for Southport Fun Tours, which I highly recommend. While the museum isn't going to knock your socks off, it's perfect for a town the size of Southport, and a place you can easily cover within a few minutes if you're in a time crunch.

The Fort Johnston-Southport Museum & Visitor's Center is a great way to start your exploration of…read moreDowntown Southport. Admission is free. The museum part provides good background information on the town and its history. One room contains all the films made in the area and also has some memorabilia from those films. The Visitor's Center has many brochures and maps and the ladies working the day I was there were very helpful about parking and about my ferry ride the next day.

The Old Brunswick County Jail was not open for the season when I was there but I could still walk…read morearound and admire the two story brick building. It was built in 1904 and served as a jail for 70 years. The Southport Historical Society stepped in to restore the building and preserve history and it opened to the public in 2004. On the second floor are two jail cells and each cell could hold four bunks, a toilet and a sink. The jailer lived downstairs with his family. It would be great to go back when it is open and hear the stories on the museum tour. "Crimes of the Heart" starring Sissy Spacek had some scenes filmed at the jail.

The Old Smithville Burying Ground is a beautiful old cemetery. Smithville was the original name of…read morethe town now named Southport. It is thought to be the oldest cemetery in Brunswick County. The oak trees and shrubs make this a peaceful place to wander and explore history. The gravesites go back to the 1700s and include Revolutionary War soldiers to those lost when a steamship sank to those working on the Cape Fear lost at sea to those that helped make Southport what it is today.

Whenever I go back up to the Northeast to visit, I like to pickup something coastal for the…read morekiddies, this is my go to spot!! Not only am I supporting the Southport Maritime Museum programs (all gift shop proceeds are returned to the museum) but encouraging an appreciation and lessons of our local maritime history for their future visits!! Not to mention the shop is filled with adult books on local maritime lore. A hidden Southport treasure!!

The North Carolina Maritime Museum is a very modestly sized free museum located behind the visitors…read morecenter in Southport. Though it's only one large interior room, it packs a lot of local maritime history within. I'm not a big history buff, so I breezed through in less than 10 minutes, but found it fits in perfectly for a small town on the water like Southport. It also helps that it's right behind the visitors center and just off the core of the historic business district of Southport. I'd recommend a visit if you had some free time in Southport or if you're interested in the maritime history of the area. There's a small gift shop near the entrance and adjacent restrooms.

as much as I enjoy an interesting bridge there's plenty of things worse than a boring bridge…read more.. like collapsed bridges. collapsed bridges are way worse than boring bridges when said bridge is part of your daily commute... gotta hate detours on the way to work because part of the road is on the bottom of the intracoastal waterway... not a whole lot of anything here for the wind to grab hold of and nothing much to obstruct the flow of waters so this one should hold up well. yeah for low maintenance bridges for putting lots of time and miles between now and the here-after. also yeah for emergency response during and after crises. double yeah for boring!!

The G. V. Barbee Senior Bridge carries North Carolina route 133 across the Intracoastal Waterway…read moreand connects Oak Island with the mainland. The bridge is 4250 feet long and is 65 feet high. 37 separate concrete girder main spans on top of 28 hollow core concrete slab approach spans. The bridge has two lanes with a double-yellow in between. There is a decently wide pedestrian/breakdown lane on each side. A number of repairs were recently completed including replacement of the concrete slabs and barrier rails, the roadway was resurfaced and some on the pier caps and columns. Originally a swing bridge back in the 1930s that was destroyed by a barge strike in 1971, the current replacement bridge was opened for traffic in 1975 and is named for a distinguished Oak Island resident. The Barbee bridge is one of two that goes to Oak Island. The Swain's Cut Bridge is about 6 miles west and brings SR 906 over the Intracoastal. [Review 13977 overall, 1299 of 2020, number 2617 in North Carolina.]

Across the street from a diner, so there's a spot to stop, this marker is in good shape and…read moreremembers a recent meteorological event. Before my time, but I'm sure the locals have never forgotten. The marker reads, "Hurricane Hazel. Category 4 storm made landfall at Long Beach, October 15, 1954, with winds over 140 mph & 17-foot surge. Nineteen people killed in North Carolina." Online, "On October 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel made landfall in southern Brunswick County and became the benchmark hurricane for an entire generation. Its devastation began long before it reached Tar Heel shores as, just days before, it struck Haiti where it left hundreds dead. Its landfall in North Carolina occurred on a full moon high tide, exacerbating the storm surge impact on the barrier beaches of Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle, Holden Beach, Long Beach, Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and Topsail Island. The devastation was widespread across North Carolina but nowhere was the impact more severe than on Long Beach (present-day Oak Island), where a 17-foot storm surge swept away 352 of the 357 structures on the island. The dramatic surge was unprecedented, and to this day represents the greatest coastal inundation in North Carolina's recorded history." "Hazel was responsible for ninety-five deaths in the U.S., including nineteen in North Carolina. Its total damage impact in the Tar Heel State was $136 million, a considerable amount for 1954. Hazel remains the standard by which other North Carolina hurricanes are measured." Since Hazel struck, Hurricane Hugo landed in 1989 near Sullivan's Island, South Carolina as a Category 4. Storm surge along the coast of North Carolina west of Cape Fear reached 9 ft (2.7 m) above mean sea level. [Review 13979 overall, 1301 of 2020, number 2619 in North Carolina.]

We came back again this year and had a blast! It was a totally different experience than last year,…read morewhich made it totally worth it. No dolphins this year, but we did get to go out further thanks to calmer waters and the captain was very knowledgeable on all of the history of the area. I would definitely still recommend this to anyone!

Although there were too many clouds, the sunset cruise didn't disappoint. The breeze was perfect…read moreand the dolphins gave us a show. The captain and first mate shared some tidbits of information on the area but this was not a narrated tour. Will continue to bring family and friends on this boat as a relaxing and fun experience.