Left: Uncle Henry Kirkum stands in front of his oyster roast at Cabbage Inlet on Masonboro Sound. It was destroyed in 1954’s Hurricane Hazel and later rebuilt. Above: Faircloth’s oyster roast restaurant was a local Airlie Road landmark on the Intracoastal Waterway. Apparel became more and more casual, although men in ties and ladies in neat dresses still appeared in mid-to-late-1900s pho-tographs. Today, collared shirts certainly seem too stuffy for mid-20th century eateries that were called “oyster roasts.” They served steamed and fried seafood in ultra-casual settings. One of the most popular oyster roasts was the two-story Faircloth’s. Located in the vicinity of the current Bridge Tender on Airlie Road, Faircloth’s hosted separate dining rooms and a dock for commercial fishers. “It was like a house,” Henson says. “They didn’t knock down the walls and make one big dining room.” Faircloth’s, launched in 1945 and demolished in 1981, was so popular it sponsored a huge float in Wilmington’s 1953 Azalea Festival parade. “People tell me they knew they were almost at the beach when they could smell Faircloth’s,” Flagler says. One beloved oys-ter roast was not at Wrightsville Beach, Henson says. Visitors felt it worth the drive to Cabbage Inlet Lane on Masonboro Sound to visit Uncle Henry’s, which advertisements say began in 1900. In what looked like an old one-story house, “Uncle Henry” Kirkum bragged “one nibble and you’re hooked.” Hurricane Hazel destroyed the restaurant in 1954, but it was rebuilt, and as late at 1989 was advertising seafood platters for $8.50. Wrightsville Beach restaurateurs accommodated every genera-tion’s 82 WBM july 2014 tastes. The famous Lumina Pavilion (1905-1973), staged formal ballroom dances but also hosted a grill in the mid-1900s. Seaside Soda Shop and Grocery oper-ated next door. Newell’s Soda Shop, a popular teen hangout dating to 1934, was at Station 1, the trolley line’s first stop, near what is now the intersection of Lumina Avenue and Waynick Boulevard. Resourceful restaurant owners understood their customers, and they provided twists and memo-rable tales. Greek family-owned restaurants featured homeland dishes, such as Greek meatballs. Mediterraneo, now 22 North downtown on Lumina Avenue, claimed “the best in Italian food.” “It was tremendously popular,” Henson says. “I went there along with everybody else. It was a hot place.” Henson and Flagler know that for “A Century of Dining at Wrightsville: 1880s to 1980s” attendees will bring their own pre-cious recollections. “Those are very deep memories,” Flagler said. “Different eating establishments are so much part of the culture here. … You go to the beach, and you’re there all day, and somehow the food tastes better when you’re sunburned.” Postmarked August 14, 1953, this postcard depicts Mrs. Ulmer’s and the Sea View Inn, left, adjacent to Lumina Pavilion.
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