Silver Anniversary

Wrightsville Beach Museum of History celebrates 25 years

BY Amanda Lisk

Published January 27, 2023|
WBM File Photo
WBM File Photo

Long before the modern homes of today’s Wrightsville Beach came on the scene, it was the iconic beach cottages with wrap-around porches and rocking chairs that lined the island.

In 1995, the Myers Cottage built at 124 S. Lumina Ave. in 1909 was loaded onto a flatbed truck, driven across the southern Banks Channel Bridge and relocated to Salisbury St. to become the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History. Museum enthusiasts Greg Watkins and Bill Creasy Jr. (1928-2015) actually sat on the front porch in rocking chairs while it was being transported.

The museum officially became incorporated in 1998, with Linda Honour as the first director. It is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

“It’s amazing the history of Wrightsville Beach with the Lumina ballroom and all the big bands that played there and these incredible grand hotels and a train coming down, just amazing,” Honour says.

Honour staged the museum to feel like a real, lived in Wrightsville Beach cottage from 100 years ago including some original pieces from the Myers home.

The most popular item continues to be the 12-foot table model of the beachfront circa 1910, back when the Lumina Pavilion was where the Oceanic pier and restaurant are today.

Clockwise from top left: In 1995 the Myers Cottage, built in 1909 on Lumina Ave., was transported across the southern Banks Channel Bridge and put in place at Salisbury St. to become the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History. Pictured in 1999 are the museum’s first director, Linda Honour and Bill Creasy Jr. In 2018, the museum added the Bordeaux Cottage to the historic town square. Courtesy Wrightsville Beach Museum of History. A 12-foot model of Wrightsville Beach circa 1910 is the most popular item at the Wrightsville Beach Museum. It features the Lumina, the Oceanic and Seashore hotels, the Station One trolley stop, and a working trolley car. WBM File photos

“Kids love that model,” says Jan Brewington, president of the museum’s board of directors and daughter of longtime Wrightsville Beach Police Chief Millard Everett “Stinky” Williamson.

Another popular exhibit is notes from the stand-alone mailbox on the beach past Shell Island Resort.

“People love to come in and see the notebooks from the mailbox on the beach; we are the keepers of the notebooks,” Brewington says.

The museum also has the original Newell’s department store sign-in book.

The Ewing-Bordeaux Cottage was added to the museum in 2018 allowing more educational opportunities for students, such as a partnership with the Coastal Federation and Wrightsville Beach Elementary School fourth-graders to learn about hurricanes.

“We hope to bring the study of Wrightsville Beach into more recent years going forward,” Brewington says.







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