Corncake Inlet, North Carolina

Fort Fisher State Recreation Area is a 287-acre (1.16 km2) North Carolina state park in New Hanover County, North Carolina in the United States. Located near Kure Beach, North Carolina, it includes Fort Fisher, site of a major naval engagement during the American Civil War. The recreation area also served as a home for the Fort Fisher Hermit, Robert Harrill. Harrill lived in a bunker and shared his beliefs about "common sense" with thousands of visitors every year while surviving on what he could gather from the surrounding salt marsh and oyster beds. Today, the recreation area consists of the remains of the earthen Fort Fisher and a museum at Fort Fisher State Historic Site, an oceanfront beach pavilion, a large lagoon popular with windsurfers, and a long stretch of beach that is accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles. The beach is an important nesting ground for sea turtles, and state park rangers regularly patrol the beach to identify recently built turtle nests. Once they are identified, they are clearly marked and surrounded with a mesh fence to prevent vehicles from driving over the eggs. The openings in the mesh are large enough to allow newly hatched turtles to pass through and return to the sea.

The Price Creek Lighthouse, also known as the Price's Creek Lighthouse, is a structure located near Southport, North Carolina. It was one of two range lights at Price Creek in a series of lights to guide ships from Cape Fear to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. The fort was located on one of Cape Fear River's two outlets to the Atlantic Ocean on what was then known as Federal Point or Confederate Point and today is known as Pleasure Island. The strength of Fort Fisher led to its being called the Southern Gibraltar and the "Malakoff Tower of the South". The battle of Fort Fisher was the most decisive battle of the Civil War fought in North Carolina.

The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a successful assault by the Union Army, Navy and Marine Corps against Fort Fisher, south of Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War in January 1865. Sometimes referred to as the "Gibraltar of the South" and the last major coastal stronghold of the Confederacy, Fort Fisher had tremendous strategic value during the war, providing a port for blockade runners supplying the Army of Northern Virginia.

The First Battle of Fort Fisher was a naval siege in the American Civil War, when the Union tried to capture the fort guarding Wilmington, North Carolina, the South's last major Atlantic port. Led by Major General Benjamin Butler, it lasted from December 24–27, 1864. The Union navy first attempted to detonate a ship filled with powder in order to demolish the fort's walls but this failed; the navy then launched a two-day bombardment in order to demolish the fort and compel surrender. On the second day, the Union army started landing troops in order to begin the siege. But Butler got news of enemy reinforcements approaching, and in the worsening weather conditions, he aborted the operation, declaring the fort to be impregnable. To his embarrassment, Butler was relieved of command on January 8, 1865, and was replaced by Major General Alfred H. Terry, who led a follow-up expedition that captured the fort one week later.

Bald Head Creek Boathouse is a historic boathouse located at the mouth of the Cape Fear River at Smith's Island, Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was built in 1915 by the United States Lighthouse Service. It is a one-story, side-gabled weathered frame structure. It sits among salt marshes on wooden pilings.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.Hurricane Florence destroyed the structure in September 2018. All that remains are the timbers spread across the pilings. This is view-able on Google Maps right across from Boathouse Tract Rd.

Bald Head Lighthouse, known as Old Baldy, is the oldest lighthouse still standing in North Carolina. It is the second of three lighthouses that have been built on Bald Head Island since the 18th century to help guide ships past the dangerous shoals at the mouth of the Cape Fear river.

Fort Johnston was a British fort, later a United States Army post, in Brunswick County, North Carolina on Moore Street near Southport, North Carolina. It stands on the west bank of the Cape Fear River, four miles above its mouth.

The Old Brunswick County Courthouse is an historic former courthouse located at Southport, Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was erected about 1844, and is a plain, two-story, stuccoed brick building three bays wide by seven bays long.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It is located in the Southport Historic District. The original courthouse was built in Brunswick Town 1729–1731. This courthouse had served New Hanover County, which included Brunswick, until Brunswick was formed in 1764. The building was destroyed by the Great Chesapeake Bay Hurricane of 1769. The General Assembly, meeting in New Bern in 1778, authorized and empowered Brunswick to levy a tax on its inhabitants to construct a new courthouse at a location convenient to its citizens and within two miles of Lockwoods Folly. The Act said "the courts of said county will be held at John Bell's until the County Court House shalI be built." John Bell's plantation had been chosen as the site of the new courthouse, but until it was built it was expected that court business would be conducted in his home if necessary. This was during the time of the American Revolution so progress was slow.Another Act of 1784 decreed that William Goss, Sam Leonard, Louis Dupree, Jacob Leonard, and Henry Walters were named "as Commissioners, for agreeing with and employing proper workmen to build a good and substantial court house, prison and stocks, and that they are hereby empowered to purchase five acres of land where they, or a majority of them, shall find most convenient within the distances above described."Samuel Leonard and Louis Dupree served as Majors, and Jacob Leonard as a captain, in the Brunswick Militia during the American Revolution. William Goss (Gause) lost a leg in the war and was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons in 1778. William Gause and his wife Elizabeth Bacot Gause hosted President George Washington for breakfast on April 27, 1791, during his Southern Tour.The location on John Bell's plantation (now Supply), near the Georgetown Road, was used for court business until the General Assembly, meeting in Raleigh in December 1808, issued an Act to remove the Court of Brunswick County from Lockwoods Folly to Smithville (later Southport). That Act noted that many beneficial effects would result from the move and that Smithville represented a large majority of Brunswick inhabitants.It was 36 years until the "new" courthouse of 1844 was completed. This could be due to the fact that no special tax was levied to build the structure, and relied primarily on private or voluntary subscriptions to complete. The Smithville courthouse was altered in 1922 after a fire in the Register of Deeds office. Another move came in 1977 when Bolivia became the county seat, then considered the "center" of the county's population. A new courthouse was constructed at the new county complex, which was itself replaced with a new courthouse building in 2001. From 1979 to 2014, the former courthouse served as Southport City Hall. In 2014, the City of Southport relocated City Hall to a new building, and the Southport Police Department left the building in 2016. There are plans to restore the building as a community arts center.

CSS North Carolina was a casemate ironclad built for the Confederate Navy in 1863 during the American Civil War by Berry & Brothers at Wilmington, North Carolina at a cost of $76,000. She was placed in commission during the latter part of the year with Commander W. T. Muse, CSN, in command. The ironclad's bulkheads above the waterline were sloped inward at a 30-degree angle and were armored with four inches of railroad iron, similar to the armor used on CSS Virginia II. There were two shuttered gun ports on each of her four casemate sides, and she carried six 8-inch cannons that could be rolled on their carriages from one port to another; she mounted one heavy pivot-rifle in the bow cannon position. North Carolina was discovered to be structurally unsound and unsuitable for use on the open ocean; her hull had become riddled with shipworm as a result of the green hull timber used for her construction. She remained in the Cape Fear River, where she had developed bad leaks, until she finally foundered on 27 September 1864, just off Smithville (modern Southport); she was serving there as a guard ship. Her sister ship CSS Raleigh was also a hard-luck ironclad. After serving in the Confederate Navy for just one week, Raleigh ran heavily aground on a sandbar called "the Rip." Her tonnage bore down heavily on the ship's unsupported aft keel, the pressure finally "breaking her back," as the tide receded; the ironclad was declared a total loss and her cannon, iron armor, and steam power plant were salvaged.

Southport is a city in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Its population was 3,828 as of the 2018 census. The mayor is Rich Alt. Southport is the location of the North Carolina Fourth of July Festival, which attracts 40,000 to 50,000 visitors annually.

Southport Historic District is a national historic district located at Southport, Brunswick County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 161 contributing buildings, 3 contributing sites, and 1 contributing object. Over half of the structures in the historic district date from the 1885-1905 period. It includes residential, commercial, and institutional buildings and is considered the best example of a Victorian coastal town in North Carolina. Notable buildings include the River Pilots Tower and Building (1940s), Frying Pan Lightship (20th century), Fort Johnston Officers Quarters (c. 1805-09), Walker-Pike House (c. 1800-20), Brunswick Inn (c. 1859), Fort Johnston Hospital (c. 1852-1860), Former Brunswick County Court House (c. 1854), Saint Philips Episcopal Church (c. 1860, 1894–96), Trinity Methodist Church (1888-1890), and the Adkins-Ruark House (1890).It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.