WHILE NAMES THEMSELVES can be intriguing, the stories behind them often prove
to be more fascinating.
Take Wrightsville, for example. How did this beloved beach town come by the
name that is now instantly recognized?
“The question we get that we love the most is people ask if we’re named for the
Wright brothers,” says Madeline Flagler, executive director of the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History.
No, the Wright brothers’ first flight happened more than 200 miles up the coast. Orville and Wilbur were
born in Ohio and Indiana, respectively, and traveled to North Carolina’s Outer Banks to take advantage of the
windy conditions. Then again, Wrightsville is named after somebody who never lived on the island.
Joshua Grainger Wright was a judge who lived and worked in Wilmington in the late 18th century.
He built a house on the sound, a good horse-and-buggy ride from Wilmington, as a place to escape the
busyness of life.
“The story goes he was famous for retreating to the sound,” says Joshua Cole, programs director of the
Wrightsville Beach Museum of History.
A community sprang up around his house and became known as Wrightsville Sound.
The judge didn’t venture any farther but others did, settling on The Hammocks (present-day Harbor Island) and later the barrier island oppo-site,
called The Banks.
In 1853, the Carolina Yacht Club became the first building on The Banks. By 1897, more than 50 cottages and several hotels existed, including
the Seashore Hotel, Ocean View Hotel, a home for sick children (still standing as a private residence), and the Atlantic Yacht Club.
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In his iconic book “Land of the
Golden River,” Lewis Phillip Hall tells
that on Feb. 16, 1897, a meeting was
held of The Banks property owners
to consider adopting a more uniform
name for the growing community. It
had been advertised for years as Ocean
View Beach, but had become better
known as Wrightsville.
On March 6, 1899, the town was
incorporated by the North Carolina
General Assembly in Raleigh, taking its
name from the mainland community to
officially become Wrightsville Beach.
Many of the town’s streets, water-ways,
islands, and piers also have
backstories that speak to their history
and significance. Not all of them have
to do with an overworked judge and
his escape to the sound, but they are
interesting in their own way.
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How the places of Wrightsville Beach received their monikers
What’s in a Name?
by ANNIE STEVENS
Joshua Grainger Wright