I knew the first time I drove onto the Fort Caswell grounds, I had to write about it.
Fort Caswell on the eastern end of Oak Island is so close and yet when you’re out there on that peninsula you feel as if you are a million miles from everywhere. In today’s really challenging climate, the peace found there is priceless. It never fails to surprise me how, in addition to attending whatever gathering I’m there for, I can explore the ruins to my heart’s content and walk the parade grounds under the glorious live oak trees, my imagination kicked into hyperdrive.
This is N.C. Holiday Flotilla month at Wrightsville Beach and the event roared back beautifully two years ago. Don’t overlook the other options for the weekend including the Day in the Park on Saturday. It’s a great outdoor shopping fair with bounce houses for children.
Wrightsville is mourning the loss of Tripp Brice, beloved dockmaster for 35 years at the Bridge Tender Marina. It will be a bittersweet Flotilla this year without him.
Enjoy a postcard of Hotshot Everett’s Yachtel on the Causeway from the ’50s and ’60s. If you have a story from this era, please share it with us.
Coming soon to the town is a Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker. The dedication is at Keel Street and the Causeway on Nov. 9.
If you missed our ongoing look at young Wrightsville surfers, now men, in September, go back and check out that issue. This month we have Wrightsville surfer Skylar Rose Steinmetz, just 14. Skylar is the 2023 Eastern Surfing Association’s Shortboard Girls U14 Champion. That win secures her a spot at the 2024 Nationals in June.
Our Home of Distinction is an authentic Harbor Island cottage built in the 1940s. It was meticulously redone and then sold this year to a family of UNCW grads and their daughters who had already experienced many weekends and summer vacations at the beach together.
In most areas, Christmas decorations don’t go up until after the Thanksgiving holiday, but at Wrightsville it’s de rigueur to get lights and decorations up before Flotilla weekend for the enjoyment of the tens of thousands who will visit over the long weekend.
’Tis the season to be thankful and share your bounty.
By Pat Bradford, Publisher