home of distinction
Time & Tide
A hurricane-proof
— and happy —
home in Wrightsville
59
B y M a r i m a r M c N a u g h t o n
P h o t o g r a p h y A n d r e w S h e r m a n
IN 10 YEARS’ TIME, the Atlantic’s tides have
churned the highest swells since Hurricane Hazel
in 1954. Four major hurricanes have pummeled
the North Carolina coast in the last decade. But
nary a puff of wind has rocked the foundation, nor a
drop of rain has trickled inside the walls of an ocean-front,
barrier island castle by the sand or sea.
Cemented into the land and seascape of Wrights-ville’s
fashionable north end, the home — loved by
three generations of family members — was, and is, a
feat of engineering. And its interior was, and remains,
a harbinger of the mid-century modern aesthetic that
swept the country in the years following its completion
in 2010.
The homeowners’ love affair with the North Caro-lina
coast began decades ago, when the husband’s
travels from Corning, New York, to Wilmington in
the 1970s drew his attention to Wrightsville Beach.
He and his wife invested in a Duneridge condo in the
pre-construction phase during the late 1980s. By the
early 1990s they had purchased unbuilt oceanfront
property on North Lumina Avenue. Then, they weath-ered
the storm surrounding the movement of Mason
Inlet to preserve a rapidly eroding shoreline, while
they built a log home on Lake Toxaway in the western
North Carolina mountains where the fishing was fine.
In the late 1990s, attention turned toward the coast
once more.
“My wife likes the ocean a lot, so we thought it would
be a great place for family to visit,” the husband says.
This North Lumina Avenue home illuminates the Wrights-
ville
strand.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM