Carolina Shore - Ocean, Seafood, History & More!

[giradman]

Neighborhood Walk Today

Took another walk this morning heading to a different area which led to some spectacular views of the wetlands; of course in the way background of the last wetlands pic is the G.V. Barbee Bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway - a little summary below (more at the link). We'll be crossing the bridge this afternoon on our way to Southport and the NC Maritime Museum there.

The G. V. Barbee Bridge carries NC 133 across the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), connecting Oak Island, North Carolina to the mainland. The 4,250-foot-long (1,300 m), 65-foot-high (20 m) structure, built under contract to the NC DOT, consists of 37 concrete girder main spans and 28 hollow core concrete slab approach spans. In the 2018/ 2019 time frame, DOT replaced all 28 cored concrete slabs and the barrier rails, resurfaced the roadway and made substructure repairs to include work on the pier caps, columns, piles and footings. (Source)

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[giradman]

Maritime Museum Southport & Solar Brewing Company

Well, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, downtown Southport was completely filled up - a parking place was not available near the museum - now we had been there several times before so not a loss to us, but below the first four pics from the web portray a feeling of the small museum. North Carolina has three maritime museums, i.e. in Southport, Beaufort, and Hatteras (the latter nicknamed Graveyard of the Atlantic, which we have not visited unfortunately) - of the two seen Beaufort is my favorite with a LOT of pirate emphasis since Blackbeard's ship the Queen Anne's Revenge sank in Beaufort harbor and underwater archeological findings are presented at that museum (more in another of my travelogues).

As a substitute and being thirsty, we stopped at Solar Brewing Company (last 4 pics below) on Oak Island - would have tried their pizza but have an early dinner reservation at a place overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with fresh shucked oysters (more on food later in case those reading this post might be visiting Oak Island) - did not want to spoil our appetite! Dave

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[giradman]

Southport - Boat Ride - Oyster Snack

Well, our last day and drove into Southport and headed for the marina area (labelled 'Boat Ride' below) for a 2 PM hour boat tour - passed Battery Island, a famous Audubon nesting island for many species of wading birds (see description next to pic - many of the darker objects on the beach are hundreds of birds), then headed between Bald Head Island and Oak Island; the lighthouses on each clearly visible - thought that we would see some dolphins but none appeared today. Susan felt like a mid-day snack, so went to the downtown area for a visit to the Moore Street Oyster bar - shared a dozen of two types of New England Coast oysters which were delicious.
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[giradman]

Southport - Civil War & Blockade Running

On our boat tour, the guide talked a lot about the Civil War and blockade running and the importance of the islands and forts around the mouth of the Cape Fear River with Wilmington just 20+ miles upriver. We saw the Thompson House (shown below) which was built by Thomas Thompson during the Civil War; he was probably one of the most famous of these runners in the area (kind of like the local Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind). The Museum in Southport dedicates a lot of space to this topic. The 10-minute video is a short overview on the local blockade running. Dave

North Carolina, Southport, Thomas M. Thompson House​

The Thompson House was built at the mouth of the Cape Fear River around 1868 by Civil War blockade-runner Thomas M. Thompson. Thompson was one of the few Southport native pilots to make a success out of blockade running during the Civil War. The Thompson House, with a center cupola, known as a widow's walk, also widow's watch, was built as a vantage point to scan the nearby waters for vessels entering the Cape Fear River. The house is in the Southport Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is pivotal property.​