Ocean Isle Beach (or simply Ocean Isle, or OIB) is a small

seaside town A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...

Brunswick County, North Carolina Brunswick County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the southernmost county in the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 136,693. Its population was only ...

, United States. It was incorporated as a town in 1959 and is part of the Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 867 at the 2020 census. Located at the southern end of North Carolina's Atlantic coastline, along the

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following th ...

, Ocean Isle Beach has private homes, seasonal rentals, and tourist attractions.

History

Ocean Isle Beach completed a roundabout located at

North Carolina Highway 179 North Carolina Highway 179 (NC 179) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It runs from the South Carolina state line, near Little River, to Shallotte. Route description Though NC 179 begins at the state line, SC 1 ...

. This design includes a brick retaining wall with "Welcome to Ocean Isle Beach" along with three

bronze statues Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements t ...

of children playing with kites. The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association named Ocean Isle Beach the winner of its 2008 Best Restored Beach Award. Ocean Isle Beach's quest for a federal beach restoration program began after

Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a powerful tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread destruction across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. The eleventh tropical cyclone, eighth Tropical cyclone naming, named st ...

devastated the area in 1989. The town lobbied members of Congress for federal funding and opened a capital reserve savings account to provide the local share of funding necessary for restoration. Coastal engineers began the project in 2001 and provided high-quality sand for the beach and created a deeper channel for boaters. Judging for the award was based on three criteria: the economic and ecological benefits the beach brings to its community; the short and long-term success of the restoration project; and the challenges each community overcame during the course of the project.

Geography

Ocean Isle Beach is located in southwest Brunswick County. The town spans the

barrier island Barrier islands are a Coast#Landforms, coastal landform, a type of dune, dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of an ...

of Ocean Isle Beach, extending fro
Tubbs Inlet
on the west t
Shallotte Inlet
on the east, and a section of the mainland to the north along

North Carolina Highway 904 North Carolina Highway 904 (NC 904) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The highway parallels the North Carolina-South Carolina border as it connects Fair Bluff, Tabor City, Sunset Beach, and Ocean Isle B ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of ; is land (74.79%) and the balance water. West Ocean Isle

Weather

Weather in Ocean Isle tends to be warm but varied, with the temperature averaging around 88F (31C) during the Summer of 2021, and 58F (14C) during the Winter of 2020.

Rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

fall is normal during the end of the Summer, and

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

storms are frequent. Hurricanes are also common and have been known to cause fires. In 1989,

devastated the area. In 2020,

Hurricane Isaias Hurricane Isaias () was a destructive tropical cyclone that caused extensive damage across the Caribbean and the East Coast of the United States while also spawning the strongest tropical cyclone-spawned tornado since Hurricane Rita in 2005. Th ...

made landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, as high end Category 1, causing significant damage to waterfront properties and the fishing pier.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 867 people, 374 households, and 289 families residing in the town.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 426 people, 209 households, and 141 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 2,507 housing units at an average

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 731.0 per square mile (282.2/km). The racial makeup of the town was 98.59%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.94% Native American and 0.47% Asian.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.47% of the population. There were 209 households, out of which 11.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.7% were married couples living together, 2.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.5% were non-families. 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.04 and the average family size was 2.40. In the town, the population was spread out, with 10.3% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 17.8% from 25 to 44, 45.3% from 45 to 64, and 21.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 53 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $67,639, and the median income for a family was $65,625. Males had a median income of $37,188 versus $22,188 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $42,605. About 3.5% of families and 4.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including none of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

Known as the "Gem of the Brunswick Islands", Ocean Isle Beach is located along the coastal corridor between

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, eighth-most populous city in the st ...

and

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the "Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. Its ...

. The beach runs east to west and offers a fishing pier, public boat launch facility, direct access to the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a Navigability, inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, the ...

, and beach paths every . The

Museum of Coastal Carolina The Museum of Coastal Carolina is a natural history museum located at Ocean Isle Beach in Brunswick County, North Carolina. Animal exhibits include an aquarium and a touch tank with live sea animals, shells, fossils, insects, a display about sha ...

offers dioramas on coastal life, a touch tank, a collection of Civil War and Native American artifacts, and a variety of interactive exhibits. A popular

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

in Ocean Isle beach are the mysterious lights which float over the ocean during the nighttime. It is unknown whether it is a drone, stars, or

fishing boats A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to fishing, catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial ...

. It has been reported to split apart into multiple lights before joining back together. One of the eastern streets of Ocean Isle was, at one point, flooded and is now engulfed underwater. Pieces of the remaining

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

from the street have washed up on the beaches. To defend against future flooding,

sandbags A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunkers, shielding gl ...

have been installed under the stilted houses on "second street" and the beaches have been manually expanded. As of 2022, the beaches on the east side of the island have been heavily cleaned and restored.

Parks and recreation

Brunswick County has completed a new recreational park on the mainland. The park offers a variety of amenities, such as an amphitheater, festival grounds, ball parks, lighted tennis courts, and biking trails. This recreational park is located on Old Georgetown Road and is part of a $500,000 federal grant for parks throughout the county. Other projects scheduled is the Shallotte Blvd Recreation Area, which is a joint project between Ocean Isle Beach Land Conservancy and the Town of Ocean Isle Beach. The park will be at Shallotte Blvd and the ferry landing at the East end of the island. The recreation area will have a gazebo, picnic tables, a fishing pier, and a walkway with steps to the sand. On the island of Ocean Isle Beach the town has recently finished a community area with an amphitheater, playground, small water area and bathrooms. Likewise. a children's play area and public gazebo are located on the eastern end of the island adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway, along with a concert stage. The Town of Ocean Isle is also about to finish a new town Hall with administration office next to the Fire station.

References

External links

Town of Ocean Isle Beach official website

Ocean Isle Beach commercial website

Ocean Isle Beach information website
* {{authority control Towns in Brunswick County, North Carolina Towns in North Carolina Beaches of North Carolina Cape Fear (region) Barrier islands of North Carolina Landforms of Brunswick County, North Carolina Populated coastal places in North Carolina