Sunset Beach is a

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 ...

in Brunswick County,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, United States. The population was 3,572 at the 2010 census, up from 1,824 in 2000 census. It is part of the Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area and the southernmost beach in the state.

History

The seaside town of Sunset Beach got its start in 1955 when the land it occupies was bought by Mannon C. Gore. Impressed by the sunsets the southeast-facing island offered, he renamed 'Bald Beach,' as it had been called previously, to 'Sunset Beach.' Development began in earnest with the completion of a bridge connecting the beach island to the mainland in 1958, modeled by Gore and operated by him until 1961 when it was taken over by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. With the help of his son, Edward, Gore began selling property on the island in 1958. Additionally, Gore built the original pier on the island, named the 'Vesta Pier' for the beached civil war blockade-runner which sat beneath the structure, though is now completely covered by sand. Sunset Beach was later incorporated as a town in 1963. On February 15, 2021, an

EF3 tornado The Enhanced Fujita scale (abbreviated EF-Scale) is a scale that rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage a tornado causes. It is used in the United States and France, among other countries. The EF scale is also unofficially ...

hit the north side of town around midnight, damaging multiple homes in several neighborhoods, including some that were completely destroyed. Three people were killed and 10 others were injured.

Geography

Sunset Beach is located in southwestern Brunswick County. It is the last developed Atlantic Ocean beach before the

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

border. One-third of the town's area occupies a

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 ...

between the ocean and 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 ...

; the remainder of the town extends onto the mainland to the north. Undeveloped Bird Island is directly to the west,

Calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, New Guinea butter bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvest ...

is the closest town to the west on the mainland. Ocean Isle Beach is to the east, just past the easternmost point of Sunset Beach, Krause Point. 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 of Sunset Beach has a total area of , of which is land, and (12.22%) is water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,175 people, 2,014 households, and 1,289 families residing in the town.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,824 people, 909 households, and 678 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 2,983 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.37%

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 ...

, 0.49%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.38% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.27% from other races, and 1.10% from two or more races.

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 1.37% of the population. There were 909 households, out of which 7.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 3.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.01 and the average family size was 2.28. In the town, the population was spread out, with 6.9% under the age of 18, 2.7% from 18 to 24, 12.1% from 25 to 44, 43.6% from 45 to 64, and 34.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 60 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $47,356, and the median income for a family was $57,019. Males had a median income of $40,795 versus $27,708 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 $36,181. About 3.0% of families and 4.2% 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 3.5% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.

Sunset Beach Bridge

Since most of Sunset Beach and the adjoining Bird Island coastal reserve encompass a barrier island, the only way to get there from the mainland was by crossing a

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

(swing bridge) straddling the

and adjacent marshland. It was a wooden structure that could only hold one lane of traffic at any given time, and was the only one of its kind still in use along the East Coast until 2010. During the day in the summer, traffic would be stopped every hour, on the hour, and the bridge would open to boat traffic on the waterway for 10 minutes. At 10 minutes after the hour, every hour, the bridge would reopen for vehicular traffic again for 50 minutes. During the off-season, the bridge only opened at the request of boat traffic. While this caused headaches for those trying to get on or off the island, many locals said the bridge did, however, give the town a more relaxed feel. Historically, this had been in stark contrast to the rapid growth affecting other beach communities along the

Grand Strand The Grand Strand is an arc of beach land on the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, United States, extending more than from Little River to Winyah Bay. It is located in Horry and Georgetown Counties on the northeastern South Carolina coast. Th ...

. In February 2008 the NCDOT started construction to replace the old bridge with a modern, arc bridge (non-draw, non-swing). The bridge opened November 11, 2010. The old Sunset Beach pontoon swing bridge was saved by the Old Bridge Preservation Society which plans to create a museum celebrating the old bridge and the town's history. The new bridge eliminates the need for a bridge keeper and provides for a continual flow of vehicle traffic on and off the island, and water traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway.Unknown
/ref> Sunset Beach at dusk

Housing in Sunset Beach

The town consists of both mainland neighborhoods and a barrier island of approximately 1,200 homes. Three of the larger mainland neighborhoods in the town are golf course developments at Oyster Bay, Sea Trail Resort and Sandpiper Bay. Ocean Ridge Plantation, while not in the town limits, has one of its "sister communities" in Sunset Beach's ETJ. Ocean Ridge has an amenities center/clubhouse on the island, while Sea Trail Home Owners Association has a designated parking lot for members. The island is primarily home to vacation rental homes and cottages, although there are close to 100 full-time residents as well.

References

The Old Bridge has been moved and is now a museum and gift shop, sitting almost directly under the new Mannon C. Gore bridge.

External links

* * *
Town of Sunset Beach official website

Visitors' website

SunsetBeach InsiderInfo.us Area Guide

{{authority control Towns in Brunswick County, North Carolina Towns in North Carolina Beaches of North Carolina Barrier islands of North Carolina Landforms of Brunswick County, North Carolina Populated coastal places in North Carolina