Monkey Junction is an unincorporated area near Wilmington in

New Hanover County New Hanover County is one of 100 counties located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 225,702. Though the second-smallest NC county in land area, it is one of the most populous, as its county seat, Wilm ...

at the intersection of College Road (

NC 132 NC may refer to: People * Naga Chaitanya, an Indian Telugu film actor; sometimes nicknamed by the initials of his first and middle name, NC * Nathan Connolly, lead guitarist for Snow Patrol *Nostalgia Critic, the alter ego of Internet comedian D ...

) and Carolina Beach Road ( US 421). It is one of several centers of recent commercial and residential growth near Wilmington. In 2008, Wilmington began controversial efforts to annex the community, but in 2012, the annexation requests were overturned by the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

History

The intersection has been known as "Monkey Junction" for almost seventy years, due to a gas station that was located there from the late 1930s through the mid-1970s. The station, run by Dina and Jack Spindle, kept live monkeys in order to attract customers from a bus that passed by on the way to and from

Carolina Beach Carolina Beach is a beach town in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States, situated about south of Wilmington International Airport in southeastern coastal North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,564. It is pa ...

, which lies several miles south of the junction. "Beginnings of familiar people and places" in ''Wilmington Magazine'', April 4, 2007
Retrieved May 8, 2008. The bus driver would stop near the station and announce "Monkey Junction". Soldiers stationed at nearby Fort Fisher were also regular customers who enjoyed being entertained by the monkeys. Non-natives can be readily identified as they refer to the locale as it appears on maps "Myrtle Grove Junction", a reference to the local residential neighborhood nearby.

References

External links

Unincorporated communities in North Carolina Annexed places in North Carolina {{NewHanoverCountyNC-geo-stub