S H O R T S H O R T S • •
WBM FILE PHOTO
Reverend Pat Rabun, the minister at Little Chapel on the Boardwalk Presbyterian Church, speaks
during a service at Public Beach Access No. 4 on July 29, 2012.
BEACH CHAIR CHURCH Oceanfront every Sunday in the summer
STARTING May 5, a beachside church service is held Sundays through the summer at the
end of CAMA beach access # 4, East Oxford Street in Wrightsville Beach. Worshippers
bring lawn chairs or blankets to the 30-minute informal services that start at 8 a.m. The
services run through the end of September.
Little Chapel on the Boardwalk began as a mission to beachgoers in a one-room wooden clap-board
sanctuary on the town’s boardwalk with funds contributed by St. James Episcopal and First
Presbyterian churches in Wilmington. The little clapboard church on Banks Channel had been jointly
operated by the Presbyterians and Episcopalians, but by 1949 it had become solely Presbyterian and
was ready for a bigger building. Dr. B. Frank Hall was appointed chairman of the committee tasked
with finding land and constructing the new church. The church held the first service in its new
location on the corner of North Lumina Avenue and Oxford Street in August 1951. Now under the
leadership of Rev. Patrick “Pat” Thomas Rabun, the church’s Sunday School begins at 9:15 a.m., tradi-tional
worship at 10:30 a.m. and Children’s Church at 10:45 a.m. Nursery is provided.
Little Chapel has been holding this early morning service on the strand for about 10 years.
— Pat Bradford
The Wrightsville Beach Parks
and Recreation office has a
few sand/beach wheelchairs
available for three days at a
time. The chairs allow users to
roll down the beach and get
their feet wet in the ocean. The
chairs aren’t motorized or user-propelled;
you’ll need someone
else to provide the horsepower.
There’s no fee, but advance res-ervations
are a must. Last year,
the chairs were in and out of the
office all summer long.
THE PARKS AND REC
office is located at:
1 Bob Sawyer Drive
on Wrightsville Beach
(910) 256-7925.
ALLISON POTTER
BEACH ACCESS
Rolling on the Beach
Handicap Access
There are 8 Americans with
Disabilities (ADA) acces-sible
ocean access points to
Wrightsville Beach’s strand:
CAMA public beach access #2
2698 N. Lumina Ave.
CAMA public beach access #3
2498 N. Lumina Ave.
CAMA public beach access #4
2398 N. Lumina Ave.
CAMA public beach access #8
1800 N. Lumina Ave.
CAMA public beach access #9
1700 N. Lumina Ave.
CAMA public beach access #16
25 E. Salisbury St.
CAMA public beach access #36
650 S. Lumina Ave.
CAMA public beach access #43
1000 S. Lumina Ave.
— Pat Bradford
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH PUBLIC RESTROOMS
The town currently has six public restrooms, four at beach access points with showers and
two off the beach: one in leased space behind Wings, across from Wynn Plaza and the other
at the town’s municipal park at the tennis courts. In May 2019 the town announced a receipt
of a matching state grant to build new facilities across from Wynn Plaza and upgrade existing bathrooms.
2968 N. Lumina Ave.
29 paid parking spaces, ADA accessible, public toilets and a shower. CAMA Public access #2.
2398 N. Lumina Ave.
99 paid parking spaces, ADA accessible and public toilets. CAMA Public access #4.
25 E. Salisbury St.
13 paid parking spaces, ADA accessible, covered gazebo, public toilets and a shower. Public access #16.
650 S. Lumina Ave.
86 paid parking spaces, ADA accessible, public toilets and a shower. Public access #36.
92 South Lumina Ave.
39 paid parking spaces, ADA accessible, public toilets. Behind Wings and the Trolley Stop.
9 Bob Sawyer Drive
104 paid parking spaces, ADA accessible, public toilets. At the municipal tennis courts.
— Pat Bradford
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WBM june 2019