In Cape Fear Beaches, with more than 200 rare, black-and-white photographs, you will step back into affectionate memory, when early residents slept in hammocks in precarious beach shacks, when grand buildings, such as Lumina and the Oceanic Hotel, dotted the beachscape, when road repair meant a shovelful of oyster shells to mend a pothole, and when bathing suits left almost everything to the imagination. This volume also recounts the black communitys experiences along these beaches, primarily at Seabreeze and Shell Island, and shares their personal stories and triumphs in a changing social scene, in which Reconstruction values slowly gave way to Civil Rightsera equality. Throughout the book, scenes of proud fishermen, both amateur and professional, with their daily catches, snapshots of family picnics on the beach, and photographs of friends posed with the ocean as a backdrop remind us that at the beach, the pace of life is measured not by the hands of a clock, but by the steady, changing tides.

In Cape Fear Beaches, with more than 200 rare, black-and-white photographs, you will step back into affectionate memory, when early residents slept in hammocks in precarious beach shacks, when grand buildings, such as Lumina and the Oceanic Hotel, dotted the beachscape, when road repair meant a shovelful of oyster shells to mend a pothole, and when bathing suits left almost everything to the imagination. This volume also recounts the black community's experiences along these beaches, primarily at Seabreeze and Shell Island, and shares their personal stories and triumphs in a changing social scene, in which Reconstruction values slowly gave way to Civil Rights-era equality. Throughout the book, scenes of proud fishermen, both amateur and professional, with their daily catches, snapshots of family picnics on the beach, and photographs of friends posed with the ocean as a backdrop remind us that at the beach, the pace of life is measured not by the hands of a clock, but by the steady, changing tides.

These tales of the supernatural are an intrinsic part of the rich folklore of the coastal area, and they have been written with as much attention to authenticity and historical accuracy as possible.

The coasts of today's American South feature luxury condominiums, resorts, and gated communities, yet just a century ago, a surprising amount of beachfront property in the Chesapeake, along the Carolina shores, and around the Gulf of Mexico was owned and populated by African Americans. Blending social and environmental history, Andrew W. Kahrl tells the story of African American–owned beaches in the twentieth century. By reconstructing African American life along the coast, Kahrl demonstrates just how important these properties were for African American communities and leisure, as well as for economic empowerment, especially during the era of the Jim Crow South. However, in the wake of the civil rights movement and amid the growing prosperity of the Sunbelt, many African Americans fell victim to effective campaigns to dispossess black landowners of their properties and beaches. Kahrl makes a signal contribution to our understanding of African American landowners and real-estate developers, as well as the development of coastal capitalism along the southern seaboard, tying the creation of overdeveloped, unsustainable coastlines to the unmaking of black communities and cultures along the shore. The result is a skillful appraisal of the ambiguous legacy of racial progress in the Sunbelt.

Step into the past in this visual history of Carolina Beach in North Carolina through the lens of over 200 vintage images. Federal Point was once the name of a peninsula 15 miles south of Wilmington, bounded by the Cape Fear River, the Myrtle Grove Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean. Fort Fisher, Kure Beach, Carolina Beach, and Seabreeze now line its sandy shores. Fort Fisher played a pivotal role in the Civil War, and when it fell in 1865, the Confederacy lost its last supply line. A century later, the Fort Fisher Hermit became a local legend, teaching a litany of common sense and simplicity to legions of visitors. Carolina Beach and Kure Beach suffered a spate of fires and hurricanes that destroyed amusement park rides, arcades, and especially fishing piers. Seabreeze was an all-black resort during the Jim Crow era, and its greatest legacy is the R&B music and dance of the 1940s that gave rise to today's ever-popular beach music and shag dancing. The Army Corps of Engineers created Snow's Cut in 1930, connecting the river to the sound and turning the peninsula into an island that is now known as Pleasure Island.

Kure Beach derived its name from a Danish immigrant named Hans Anderson Kure Sr. He began acquiring land in the area in 1891, and by 1900, he had purchased 900 acres just south of Carolina Beach to Fort Fisher. He established the Kure Land and Development Company and in 1913 produced a map of Fort Fisher Sea Beach, which would later become Kure's Beach and eventually Kure Beach. In 1923, the first wooden fishing pier on the Atlantic coast was constructed by Lawrence Kure. DAN PRI, one of the first surfboard companies on the East Coast, was also established at Kure Beach. The area is rich in historical significance--from Verrazzano's discovery to Cape Fear Indians, pirates, lighthouses, the "Rocks," the Ethel Dow Chemical Plant, and the community's role in both the Civil War and World War II. Most cherished, though, are the people that loved living a relaxed, peaceful life in their "paradise."