Even before Wrightsville Beach was incorporated as a town, those who came over by boat to their cottages by the sea enjoyed it as a beautiful place to spend the summer.

Originally known as Ocean View Beach, the town was incorporated in 1899 as Wrightsville Beach, in honor of the Wright family of Wilmington.  Accessibility to the beach improved in 1887 when the Shell Road - now Wrightsville Avenue - was completed.

Wilmington Seacoast Railroad Co. built rail transportation, known as the "Beach Car" from downtown Wilmington all the way to the "Hammocks" (Harbor Island) with a footbridge to Wrightsville Beach.

In 1889, the rail line was extended across the Hammocks and onto the barrier island where it then ran southward along a route which is now South Lumina Avenue.  Until the automobile era, the "Beach Car" was the lifeline to Wrightsville Beach.

On July 4, 1907, 8700 passengers traveled to the beach by rail.  At the end of the rail line was Lumina Pavilion, built in 1905 by the Tidewater Power Co.; Lumina was constructed on 200 feet of ocean frontage at Station 7.  Lumina's 12,500 square foot complex presented visitors with three levels of games and activities and a magnificent dance hall.

The Great Fire of 1934 destroyed over one hundred buildings on Wrightsville Beach.  In 1935, the trolley era gave way to the automobile.

Hurricane Hazel hit Wrightsville Beach, at high tide and with a full moon, on October 15, 1954, destroying approximately 200 houses and damaging 500 more.

A new era began in the 1960's as Wrightsville Beach rebuilt after Hurricane Hazel.  Currently, there are 2,604 year round residents, with the population swelling to 45-50,000 in the summer months.

The town of Wrightsville Beach occupies one of the chain of barrier islands along North Carolina's southeastern coast.  These islands, geologically relatively young, presented prior to urban development a combination of wide sandy beaches, dunes, and marine forests.  Westward of the long and narrow barrier islands are the sounds and marshlands where sea water continually flows in and out across waterways and wetlands.

The barrier islands are in a state of constant transition because of natural forces.  Hurricanes and storms bring high winds and pounding surf which erode the beach, open and close new inlets, and alter the terrain and the ecological systems on and around it. Current documentation points to a slow, steady migration of barrier islands toward the west.

The island of Wrightsville Beach today is 1,000-5,000 feet in width and stretches almost four miles from Masonboro inlet on the south to Mason inlet on the north.

This is a man-made configuration that may not stand the test of time. When North Carolinians named the island it was called New Hanover Banks, a sandy barrier cut by shallow Moor's Inlet. The northern portion was called Shell Island.  Today, Moore's Inlet is bulldozed and closed, and Lumina Avenue and a magnificent wide beach run the length of Wrightsville Beach.  On the mainland side of Wrightsville Beach European settlers encountered a sound nearly two miles wide, a stretch of waterways, marsh and small islands. 

Dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway earlier in the 20th century produced sand and clay which were compacted to form a sizable island in the sound that was originally called The Hammocks--now Harbor Island--between the barrier island and the western shore of the sound, which is punctuated by creeks, tidal flats and marshlands.

The entire habitat - ocean and barrier island, sound and creeks - was originally rich with salt water and anadromous fish along with turtles, raccoons and even alligators.

The city limits of the town of Wrightsville Beach today encompass not only the barrier island but also Harbor Island and a small portion of mainland. "The Beach," or the island itself, was once owned by the State of North Carolina and known as New Hanover Banks. It was transferred into private hands in three separate grants between 1791 and 1881.

Development, however, was slow, impeded by distance and lack of transportation other than by boat. The established port city of Wilmington on the lower Cape Fear River, a municipality founded in 1740, sits ten miles by land to the southwest, but the early owners of portions of New Hanover Banks could only reach the area by traveling on oar-driven skiffs or sailing craft down to the mouth of the Cape Fear River and then northeastward up the sounds or coast.

For a century after the beach passed into private hands there were no residents, and the only visitors were fishermen, drawn to the area by the great numbers of Spanish Mackerel and Blue Fish, and hunters who used marsh lands to the west to hunt game hen and game birds.

Sailing became a popular pastime in the area, and frequent races led to the founding of the Carolina Yacht Club in April 1853. Club members erected a clubhouse, the first structure on what began to be called Wrightsville Beach (after the Wright family who owned land on the nearby mainland) as their meeting place. The Carolina Yacht Club held dozens of races every year and is now recognized as the third oldest yacht club in the United States.

The Civil War disrupted these events for a few years, as many members of the club and their boats went into military service. The waterways adjacent to Cape Fear were busy with traffic during the war, with blockade runners making their dangerous, usually nocturnal dash from the Atlantic into the mouth of the river on their way to the port of Wilmington.

At least three blockade runners are said to have foundered on Wrightsville Beach itself, one allegedly carrying a sword covered in jewels, meant for the Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The inaccessibility of the area began to change in 1875, when a charter was granted for the construction of a turnpike connecting Wilmington to Wrightsville Sound. The passage was completed in 1887, completely topped by oyster shells, thus earning the nickname "the Shell Road."

Later that year a charter was granted to the Wilmington Seacoast Railroad Company to build a track to extend from Wilmington all the way to the Hammocks. With rail transportation to the Hammocks and a footbridge to Wrightsville Beach, development of the island began to accelerate.

Another yacht club was erected, two hotels and several beach cottages, the first apparently built by Col. F. W. Foster.   In 1889 the rail line was extended across the Hammocks and Bank's Channel to Wrightsville Beach where it then ran southward along a route now marked by South Lumina Avenue.  In 1897 the Hammocks attracted a popular hotel, the Island Beach.

Hundreds of visitors from around the state of North Carolina began to arrive each summer. From 10th and Princess streets in downtown Wilmington the train (after 1902, electric trolley) ride to the beach took thirty minutes. Until the automobile era the "Beach Car" trolley was "the lifeline of Wrightsville Beach," in one resident's recollection. On July 4, 1907, for example, 8,700 passengers were carried to the beach on the popular line.

On March 6, 1899, the residents incorporated the Town of Wrightsville Beach. The population at this time cannot be determined with accuracy, but probably was not more than 40 or 50, most of them seasonal dwellers.

Their civic commitment was soon tested. The great hurricane of 1899 swept in from the Atlantic and destroyed virtually everything on Wrightsville Beach, including the train tracks that connected it to the mainland. Like Hazel in 1954, the storm struck during the exact hour of high tide, and sent huge waves across the beaches, inundating the island.

The spirit of the people of Wrightsville Beach rose to the occasion. The railroad was rebuilt the very next year, and the electric trolley cars (after 1902) carried thousands of visitors to a beach that was fast becoming a main attraction not only for the people of Wilmington and much of North Carolina but for tourists from New York and other eastern cities.

Hugh MacRae, president of the Tide Water Power Company, the parent company of the trolley line, added to the enticements of sun and sand by building an immense public pavilion at the final stop on the line.

Lumina was constructed on 200 feet of ocean frontage at Station 7, the end of the line, and opened on June 3, 1905. Costing $7,000 to build--a very large sum in that day-- Lumina's 12,500 square foot complex presented visitors with three levels of games and activities.

A bowling alley, shooting gallery and snack shop occupied the ground floor, and a broad staircase led up to the dance hall with balcony for the band and onlookers.