North Topsail Beach, late 1970s

Arcadia

In the late 1970s, North Topsail Beach was still a wilderness. Wildlife, including some enormous snakes, lived under an umbrella of gnarled oaks and there was not a single house on the northernmost mile of the island. A jog down the beach was usually a solitary experience. But all that changed about 1980. (Courtesy of Tom and Jerry Cards.)

As featured in Images of America - Cape Fear Beaches.

Arcadia - Home of the iconic Images of America series and publisher of thousands of hyper-local hometown history books.

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