up front
This has been one of the
more miraculous months in the history of production
for our magazine, and highly rewarding.
We trust you’ll enjoy this
issue dedicated to a study
of barrier islands.
You have a taste of
what is inside with the engaging willet from
our front cover, brilliantly captured by pho-tographer
Allison Potter.
Our feature stories kickoff with Andy
Wood’s delightful Beachcombers’ Guide to
Barrier Island Ecology. Wood, a WHQR
commentator and former education direc-tor
of North Carolina Audubon, created
this in-depth look for our pages.
We pick up the pace with a look at
open-water swimmers. You see them in
the early morning sprint shoeless across
the street, dressed in nothing but a bath-ing
suit, hands empty except for a bathing
cap, although sometimes as they appear
from behind a car in the dawn light, they
carry a container of expensive coffee. Find
out what these adventurous swimmers are
up to.
Mort Neblett introduced us to the art of
his cousin, C. Ford Riley, who spent many
summers at his grandmother’s soundfront
cottage in the downtown Wrightsville
district. Riley, who lives in Jacksonville,
Florida, has also spent considerable time
in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Watauga
and Avery counties. His paintings capture
scenes from these three geographic areas
and are so realistic they could almost be
photographs. His brother, Scott Riley,
claims you can smell the saltwater in his
paintings, and he may be right.
There’s a unique center on Bald Head
Island that educates young people to pro-tect
the natural habitats and creatures that
surround where we live. Along with conser-vancy,
this center hosts a kids camp, nature
tours and promotes a lifelong love of living
in harmony with nature.
We also feature a Bald Head Island
home of distinction. This is truly a home
with a view; with a main house and adja-cent
crofters, this spacious home recreates
the look and feel of Captain Charlie’s, three
former lighthouse keepers’ cottages on the
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WBM september 2012
island’s South Beach, once primitive, now
restored as guest quarters.
It has been in these Captain Charlie’s
cottages that artists gather for a two-week
international art colony every November.
There artists congregate and in the freedom
of the island lifestyle, create memorable
works of art with No Boundaries.
With the closing out of this issue, we say
Pat Bradford enjoys a rare moment in the
surf zone looking for mole crabs.
goodbye to summer and welcome in the
blissfully slower time that descends on the
beach once school is back in session. This
month we also acknowledge the upcoming
departure of town manager Bob Simpson.
The Colonel, as we affectionately call him
because of his air force career, leaves enor-mous
shoes to fill and takes with him a spot
in our hearts. He will be greatly missed.
Editor/Publisher
JOSHUA CURRY
5814-2 Oleander Drive
Wilmington, NC 28403
910-523-5790
theredtulip5814@gmail.com