Penderlea Homestead Museum, located at 284 Garden Rd., is open every Saturday. The museum is a perfectly preserved Penderlea home built in the 1930s. While Penderlea is historic, so is its church, Potts Memorial Presbyterian Church. Penderlea was the first New Deal farming community authorized by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Proposed by Hugh MacRae, Penderlea was designed to give unemployed and tenant farmers...
The Holly Shelter Game Land Shooting Range is well underway. According to a report for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the pistol and rifle range shelter is framed. Shingles have been installed on the rifle range shelter. The pistol shelter roofing is approximately 40 percent complete. Benches have been constructed in the pistol range. Benches in the rifle shelter are underway. A liner for the...
Topsail Island was, and remains today, a fishing destination. Before there were multi-story beachfront houses, there were fishing cottages. Once upon a time, Topsail Island was home to Salty’s Pier, Ocean City Pier, Scotch Bonnet Pier, Barnacle Bill’s Pier, the Surf City Pier and the Jolly Roger Pier. Doug Medlin, Surf City mayor pro-tem, remembers when a handful of business owners and fishing pier owners...
I used to run to meet the waves when I was a child. “Putting my best foot forward” for the first time each summer was a magical time for me. I can’t explain it. I can only relive it in the eyes of my six grandchildren. I’m native to Topsail and still experience wonder every time I walk on the beach. I am at peace with the world. …… it never gets old. Remember when you vacationed...
Swing Bridge, Draw Bridge and The Bridge, whatever you call it. The Surf City bridge has its days numbered. It is falling to the march of time. There are at least two camps you know Let’s keep it and wait for the boat parades go by. Let’s raze it and replace it with a long concrete winding snake connecting us to the mainland. Can you guess which camp I favor? I keep a paperback underneath my car...
