sunglasses. No soundside docks beckon 

 boaters to stop. 



Because of this lack of amenities, 

 you might think Masonboro Island 

 attracts little attention and few visitors. 

 It's the lonely island of the southern 

 coast. 



But on a hot summer day, Mason- 

 boro is crawling with everyone from 

 fishermen to flip-flopped explorers. 

 Boats jam the Intracoastal Waterway, 

 and the curious squint, looking for a rare 

 loggerhead turtle or maybe an ordinary 

 black skimmer. From the top of the 

 biggest dune on the north end, you can 

 see eight miles of coast, marsh and forest 

 — from the prickly little cacti that stick 

 to your socks to the graceful curve of the 

 beaches. 



Masonboro Island is, well, nature in 

 the nude. With all the development 

 clogging other islands, it would be hard 

 not to call Masonboro beautiful. Yet it's 

 not like that last pitiful tree in Dr. Seuss's 

 The Lorax, valued because it's all we 

 have left. This island and the sound that 

 borders it were majestic enough 200 

 years ago to stand out from the miles of 

 untouched coast around it. 



Crockette Hewlett wrote that in 

 1735, five years before the budding city 

 of Wilmington was incorporated, an 

 Englishman stood at the mouth of 

 Cabbage Inlet Creek and gazed at the 

 sound and distant Masonboro Island. 

 Like the Indian, Italian, Spanish and 

 Barbadian explorers before him, Richard 

 Mullington liked what he saw. Like those 

 who followed, he wanted to lay founda- 

 tions there. 



Later that year, Mullington pur- 

 chased 640 acres from King George II 

 and became the first property owner on 

 the mainland along Masonboro Sound. 



Since that time, the mainland has 

 been changing. Mullington sold his 

 property long ago. Families such as the 

 Hewletts moved in, along with farmers, 

 craftsmen and fishermen. There have 

 been pirates, salt mines and Civil War 

 shipwrecks. Wrightsville Beach and 

 Carolina Beach began to develop as 

 resorts in the late 1800s, and they haven't 

 stopped since. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



