It is a short ferry boat ride to the island from Southport and it looks to be great fun for all ages!

See the schedule below for details or go to oldbaldy.org.
For tickets call: 910-457-7481

All Proceeds Benefit the Old Baldy Foundation Preservation Projects

For nearly 200 years, North Carolina’s oldest standing lighthouse, Old Baldy, has marked the mouth of the historic Cape Fear River. Today, thousands of visitors make the exciting journey each year to beautiful Bald Head Island to learn about the island’s rich maritime past at the Smith Island Museum of History and experience Old Baldy up close – including the climb to the top for a breathtaking view of the surrounding area’s outstanding natural beauty.

PIRATES ARE COMING AUGUST 6-8, 2010

Friday August 6th, 2010

Lighthouse Grounds Open

Lighthouse Gift Shop opens at 9am, Grounds open 1-4pm

Adults$5/Youth (3-12), Infants 2 and under Free. Visit the pirates camp, shop and climb the lighthouse.

Scalawag School

Pre-registration required, space limited

1:30pm – 2:45pm (4 – 7 year olds)

3pm – 4:15pm (8 – 12 year olds)

$20/child

Learn to walk talk and act like a pirate. Fee includes all day admission to the lighthouse grounds, a T-Shirt, eye patch, tatoos and certificate.

Island Wide Treasure Hunt

Pre-registration required, space limited

Friday 3pm – Saturday 3 pm

All ages

Registaration: 2;30pm Old Baldy Lighthouse

Cost $20/team

Test your skills in this pirate challenge designed for families. The challenge must be completed by a team of 4-6 members and the challenges span all ages from creating art to singing pirate songs, to following the clues to finding hidden treasure. The trick is you only have 24 hours to complete the challenge in order to maximize time and resources and get the most points to win.

Pirates Invade Bald Head Island

5:30pm

Free

West Beach Access #1 Turks Head Court and #2 Row Boat Row

Pirate Pub Night: Grub and Grog at the Harbour Pavillion Tent at Bald Head Island Marina: 6pm -10pm $40/Adult, $15/Youth 3-12, Infants 2 and under Free -Dine with pirates, dance to music of Rusty Cutlass direct from Disney World and bid on booty at the Auction – games for kids and cash bar for adults.

Saturday August 7st, 2010

National Lighthouse Day on the grounds of Old Baldy Lighthouse Grounds

10am -9pm $7/Adult, $5/Youth (3-12), Infants 2 and under Free.

Events Include:

• Children’s Activities
• Live Music
• Pirate Skits and Presentations
• Pirate Encampment
• Pirate Presentations
• Pirate Costume Contest 2:30pm
• Food Available 11am – 2pm and 5pm – 9pm
• Beer and Wine 5pm – 9pm
• Bring your lawn chairs for a movie on the lighthouse at 9pm

I’m A Pirate Artist

Pre-registration required, space limited

9:30am – 11am (8 – 14 year olds)

4pm – 5:30pm (7 – 12 year olds)

$15/child (fee includes drawing materials)

Michael Noles (aka Captain Red Ned Lynch) graduate of Ringling School of Art and Design, Sr. Art Director for Walt Disney Enterprises and artisits of this years pirate weekend poster will be the drawing instructor. Learn about his work, draw a pirateusing a live model and get tips from a real pirate artist.

Build and decorate your very own pirate boat, learn ship vocabulary and test your sailing skills. Fee includes boat kit, admission to the grounds all day Saturday.

Scalawag School

Pre-registration required, space limited

11:00am – 12:15am (4 – 7 year olds)

12:30pm – 1:45pm (4 – 7 year olds)

2pm – 3:15pm (8 – 12 year olds)

$20/child

Learn to walk talk and act like a pirate. Fee includes all day admission to the lighthouse grounds, a T-Shirt, eye patch, tatoos and certificate.

Sunday August8th 2010

Pirates and Pancakes
(Pre-registration required. Space limited)
10:30 AM at the Bald Head Island Club
$25/adult, $15/youth 4-12, $5/infant 3 and under.
Join the pirates as they have their last meal on Bald
Head Island at this lavish breakfast buffet. Menu:
waffles, biscuits and gravy, grits, fruit, has browns
and of course pancakes!
The Pirates Arggg Coming!!!

This Post Sponsored By:

This event is being organized as a fundraiser for the Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce.  Following the prize structure of the Chamber’s very popular U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament, the all cash guaranteed prizes totals $5,300.

The entry fee for the Cape Fear Flounder Classic is $100 per boat with an optional $50 TWT.   Tournament participation will be limited to boats and all fish must be taken on a rod and reel.  No Check-Out.  No boundaries with the exception of restricted areas such as Sunny Point and Progress Energy intake wall.

Registration for the Cape Fear Flounder Classic will be held at the Chamber Office at 4841 Long Beach Road on  Monday thru Friday from 10am-4pm beginning Friday, July 9th thru Friday, July 30th  from 10am-4pm.  There will be additional registration on Friday, July 30th from 5pm-7pm at the Southport Marina.

A Hot Dog Dinner for the participants will be held at 6pm on Friday, July 30th and Saturday, July 31st.   Fishing hours will be on Saturday, July 31st from 7am until 4pm with the scales open from 3pm-5pm.   The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, July 31st at 6pm.
For more information contact Southport-Oak Island Area Chamber of Commerce at 910.457-6964 or email them at events@southport-oakisland.com

5025 Nester Ct Southport, NC 28461 $469,900

For more information on this or any other property anywhere in the area please contact me martha@pope-realestate.com. Visit my coastal NC Real Estate website at: http://pope-realestate.com

Directions: Hwy 211 to Hwy 133( Long Beach Rd) toward Oak Island.,Left at Fish Factory Rd. to end at Marina left to end. Left on Nester Ct. Second floor unit . Last house on the right.

Louis Moore Bacon, who now resides in London but was born in Raleigh, has purchased almost the entire 5,000-acre property – including the historic plantation house and its famous gardens – from the Laurence Sprunt family who have owned the Brunswick County landmark since 1884.

The Plantation and Gardens will close indefinitely on May 31st while plans for the future and other renovations are made. Hurry to see this incredible place while this years gardens are still available to you!

Current Orton manager David Sprunt, will retain that position, said the family has kept the land around the plantation’s pond.

He said he’s excited about the plans for the plantation, but it is hard for the property leave his family’s ownership after all of these years.

A press release states that Bacon is directly descended from Roger Moore, who built the original Orton residence in 1725. Bacon’s mother’s family has strong ties to nearby Wilmington.

Many are relieved to hear that Mr. Bacon has a reputation for buying historic properties such as Orton Plantation and keeping them in their natural state. Also the N.C. Coastal Land Trust holds conservation easements covering much of the Orton property. The executive director of the Land Trust states that Bacon is noted as a conservationist and a supporter of numerous environmental organizations.

Forbes magazine notes Bacon, age 53, is a native of North Carolina who manages several hedge funds and now resides in London, and the London Sunday Times notes that that he is the richest hedge fund manager in Britain having a nearly $1.7 billion fortune.

Orton Plantation, which recently opened for the 2010 season, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the gardens. Extensive renovations were made in the gardens to open up panoramic views to the Cape Fear River, remove competing vegetation, redesign and enhance the flower beds and restore and preserve the colonial rice fields.

Among the predominant species in the garden are live oaks, camellias, azaleas, flowering fruit trees, daphne, hydrangeas, crape myrtles, dogwoods, and colorful spring and summer annuals. Lawns and water gardens lend variety to the lush vegetation.

Plan to come spend a day at Orton Plantation! The gardens are in their glory right now! The historic landscape designed around the 1735 mansion and colonial rice fields overlooking the Cape Fear River and 20 acres of secluded walking trails surrounded by hundreds of acres of rice fields make Orton Plantation Gardens a wonderful place to visit.

One of the oldest plantations on the Lower Cape Fear and the only one with a manor house still standing, Orton has become a privately owned tourist attraction, celebrated for its elaborate gardens. In recent years, the plantation and its grounds have served as locations on a number of motion pictures.

The house and grounds are located at 9149 Orton Road S.E., Brunswick County just off N.C. 133, close to the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site.

Get directions click here!

Hours are 8am to 5pm March – August and 10am – 5pm September – November (except they close for Thanksgiving Day).

Movies at the waterfront will begin June 11 and begin at various times:
8:30 p.m., June 11: “Jaws”
8:30 p.m., July 9 p.m.: “The Blind Side”

8 p.m., Aug. 11: “Marley & Me”

7:30 p.m., Sept. 10: “Mary Poppins”
7 p.m., Oct. 8: “An Affair to Remember”
6:30 p.m, Oct. 30: “Pirate Kids” and “Pirate Kids 2”
5:30 p.m., Dec. 10: “The Polar Express in 3D”

“Tuesday Tunes” will begin at 6 p.m. at the Garrison House off Davis Street.

Her’s the concert schedule:
May 25: Blind Manifest, variety
June 22: Da Howlies, Hawaiian swing
July 27: Sea Pans, steel drums
Aug. 29: Zion Hill Adult Choir & Praise Dancers, gospel

With rates that include a full hot Southern Breakfast Buffet each day there is no better golf value around!

We’re talking free green fees for all Winds’ guests on a selection of top area courses FREE. All you pay in, addition to your regular lodging rates, is carts and tax.

FREE SUMMER GOLF – 6/01/2010 to 8/31/2010:

Courses include: Briarwood, Carolina Shores, Meadowlands, Farmstead, Palmetto Greens, Eagles Nest (after p.m.), Carolina National (after p.m.), Sea Trail’s Willard Byrd (after p.m.), Sea Trail’s Maples Course (after p.m.) Valley at Eastport (after p.m.), The Pearl (after p.m.)

Sign up on our Home Page to receive all the latest golf news and specials updates!

“Its All About Golf At The Winds!”

The Winds Resort Beach Club offers golfers a choice of oceanfront suites overlooking palm trees, subtropical gardens and our breathtaking powder-sand island beach or, for groups, our spacious 4, 5 and 6 bedroom Resort Cottages.

All packages include a Hot Southern Breakfast Buffet and use of all of The Winds Amenities: Three Pools (one indoor), Garden Bar Restaurant and poolside oceanfront Tiki-Bar

The Winds’ deserves its reputation for being “a golfer’s paradise”, boasting nearly 20 of the “Grand Strand’s” best courses within 8 miles, and close to 100 courses within 30 minutes drive. Golfers love our FREE Summer Golf Program!

Stay at the area’s premier oceanfront resort The Winds Resort Beach Club (5 -10 minutes from Sea Trail) and play all three Sea Trail’s great courses – Dan Maples, Willard Byrd and Rees Jones

Package includes:

• 3 Nights Lodging
• Daily Hot Southern Breakfast Buffet
• Daily Round of Golf On Each Of Sea Trail’s Three Courses
• Courses are Dan Maples, Willard Byrd and Rees Jones
• All Cart Fees
• All Greens Fees
• Daily Housekeeping
• (4 golfers in a 2 bdrm/2 bath suite)
• Prices based on 4 golfers in a 2 bdrm/2 bath suite or 8 golfers in a 4 bdrm/4 bath Resort House.

To book this golf package please call our Golf Desk: 800.334.3581 or email the GolfDesk

I recently took an afternoon off and revisited this incredible place – I hadn’t been there in years and forgot what I was missing.

First of all the location alone is amazing – wooden walkways wind amongst ruins of the pre-Revolutionary town which lie side by side with the remains of a Civil War era Confederate fortification originally called Fort St. Philip’s (later renamed Fort Anderson).

All of this is located along a virtually undeveloped area along the Cape Fear River offering some of the most beautiful views of the river seen through ancient live Oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. A great place to spend the day and have a picnic on the grounds.

I don’t know if there is anywhere where more history is packed into such a small area!
The town of Brunswick was settled by merchants coming from Barbados by way of Goose Creek SC in 1726 by Maurice Moore (who’s descendants later built Orton Plantation next to the town).

The port became a bustling shipping area for exporting tar, pitch, and turpentine. These products, derived from the resin of the longleaf pine, were known collectively as naval stores. This “sticky gold” was essential for building and maintaining the great wooden sailing ships of the Royal Navy and the merchant fleet that sailed the oceans between Europe, its American colonies, and the islands of the Caribbean.

In 1748 the town was attacked by Spanish invaders who were eventually driven off by 80 brave men many of which were African slaves.

In 1765 (eight years before the Boston Tea Party!) the residents challenged the Crown’s authority to distribute hated tax stamps halting the collection of the tax along the Cape Fear.

Brunswick was the seat of two Royal Governors until Brunswick’s decline which resulted from several factors, including the growth of Wilmington and the relocation of the royal governor to New Bern in 1770.

Few people remained in Brunswick in the spring of 1776 when British redcoats were put ashore from the Royal Navy ship Cruizer. Some reports indicate that much of the town was burned during this raid. By the end of the Revolutionary War families and merchants had moved to other locations, and the ruins and land became part of Orton Plantation in 1842. After being was razed by British troops in 1776 Brunswick was never rebuilt.

Painting Courtesy of Miller Pope from his book: "Tales of the Silver Coast".

Then, during the Civil War, Ft. Anderson was constructed atop the old village site. Colonial foundations dot the present-day tour trail, which crosses the earthworks of the Confederate fort. This serene riverside setting, colonial and Civil War history, and colorful exhibits will be long remembered by visitors.

In 1861 the Confederate States of America decided to build a large fort at the site as part of the river defense of Wilmington. The Cape Fear was an essential route for supplies moving by rail from Wilmington to Petersburg and Richmond for General Lee’s army.

The Confederate army used manual labor to construct the large sand fortification originally called Fort St. Philip’s. There were two batteries, each with five cannons overlooking the shipping channel and providing protection to blockade runners.

In February 1865, following the fall of Fort Fisher at the mouth of the river, Union forces repositioned to attack Fort Anderson. Federals attacked from the land and river. After three days of fighting, the Confederates evacuated the fort at night. Union gunboats started firing at first light, unaware Federal soldiers were breaching the walls of the fort. The infantry frantically waved sheets and blankets to stop the deadly fire from their own forces. There was a one-day fight north of the site at Town Creek before the Federals occupied Wilmington on George Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1865.

The Site Today

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, archaeologists uncovered foundations from Brunswick’s earliest days.

The most visible structure is the hulk of St. Philip’s Anglican Church with its surviving walls dating back to 1754.

Another interesting foundation is Russellborough, an old sea captain’s house that was used by royal governors Tryon and Dobbs.

The visitor center houses several displays that cover the time periods of both the old town and the fort.

In the lobby is a colorful mural created by Claude Howell and Catherine Hendricksen depicting a scene from a Spanish attack on the town in 1748.

Also the original large color painting of the Confederate soldiers shown above by Miller Pope (founder/owner of The Winds Resort Beach Club!). This painting is from his book Tales of the Silver Coast – A Secret History of NC’s Brunswick County.

All of Miller Pope’s books are available at his website http://MillerPope.com

A cannon on display was recovered from the river in 1986 and is believed to be from the Spanish ship Fortuna, which blew up in the river as the townspeople regained control of the port.

The remains of homes, businesses, and other buildings bear witness to the story of Brunswick. Along with artifacts from the Civil War and the imposing mounds of Fort Anderson, this site offers a unique look at two fascinating periods of American history.

“For there are deeds that should not pass away,
And names that must not wither.”
- plaque in St. Philip’s Church

Brunswick Town? 8884 St. Philip’s Rd. SE?, Winnabow, NC 28479? Phone: (910) 371-6613? Email: brunswick@ncdcr.gov
Hours of Operation: Monday – Saturday 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Closed Sunday.

Plan to come spend a day at Orton Plantation! The gardens will soon be in their glory. The historic landscape designed around the 1735 mansion and colonial rice fields overlooking the Cape Fear River and 20 acres of secluded walking trails surrounded by hundreds of acres of rice fields make Orton Plantation Gardens a wonderful place to visit.

Generations of locals and tourists travel to the historic property with its beautiful antebellum plantation house. Azaleas, dogwoods, camellias and various annuals bring a splash of color to the riverside oaks and pines.

One of the oldest plantations on the Lower Cape Fear and the only one with a manor house still standing, Orton has become a privately owned tourist attraction, celebrated for its elaborate gardens. In recent years, the plantation and its grounds have served as locations on a number of motion pictures.

When a cousin of the Sprunt family was seriously injured in an automobile accident In the late 1930s. Family members decided to open Orton plantation as a public garden for a long weekend to raise money for his medical bills, .

Visitors so enjoyed the gardens and grounds that the family continued to keep them open to the public. These days, the gardens are open each year, March through August and September through November.

The house and grounds are located at 9149 Orton Road S.E., Brunswick County just off N.C. 133, close to the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site.

Get directions click here!

Hours are 8am to 5pm March – August and 10am – 5pm September – November (except they close for Thanksgiving Day).