Car Towns olina
Oak Island, North Carolina
THERE ARE NOT MANY locations along the East Coast of the United States where you can take in the sights and sounds
STACY E. DOMINGO
of the Atlantic Ocean while facing south instead of east. Residents of and visitors to Oak Island, North Carolina, can take advantage of this unusual view. Oak Island, undeveloped until 1939, became a true island only three years earlier, when the Intracoastal Waterway was completed. Not long after, Carolina Lands, Inc., a South Carolina company, began developing the area, selling oceanfront lots for the exorbitant price of $350. Today, parts of the town of Oak
Island are on both sides of the water- way, and lots are selling for a lot more than $350, but quality of life and leisure are still high priorities in this municipality of 8,180 residents. Te island, 12.6 miles long and an average of a mile across, is the largest island in Brunswick County and also includes the town of Caswell Beach. Its intricate ecosystem of salt marsh, freshwater
wetlands, maritime forests and, of course, miles of beautiful beaches, at- tracts seasonal visits from Atlantic sea turtles that return each year to lay their eggs. You also might see indigenous wild red foxes roaming the landscape. Te Arboretum, a golf course com- munity that surrounds the Oak Island Country Club, along with Oak Island’s homes on the mainland provide the quintessential “small town feel, with small businesses and no chain restau- rants,” according to Lisa Skipper, presi- dent of Curtis Skipper Construction, which has built several custom homes on the island. “I used to vacation on Long Beach with friends and their parents in the 1970s. It is still a fun place to live and play,” she said. Long Beach and Yaupon Beach merged in 1999 to form the town of Oak Island. Robert Clark, who owns a gorgeous
Curtis Skipper home in Te Arbore- tum on Caswell Beach with his wife, Becky, described Oak Island as a “well- kept secret.”
A 148-foot-tall structure in Caswell
Beach is no secret. Friends of the Oak Island Lighthouse provide weekly access to the inside of the tower, and there also is boardwalk access to the beach, as well as an observation deck. “Everyone feels comfortable here,”
Skipper commented. “Retirees, young couples, families. Everyone. Tere is something to do no matter your age or health.” Oak Island is only 30 miles from his-
toric Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 60 miles from the bright lights of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
For more information about the towns of Oak Island and Caswell Beach, contact Curtis Skipper Construction at (910) 457-1027, or visit
www.curtisskipperconstruction.com.
www.WilmingtonBuilders.com |
www.BrunswickBuilders.com |
www.HoldenBeach.net
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