Plenty to Do on Pleasure Island

Crossing the high-rise bridge from the mainland to Pleasure Island was a much different experience 25 years ago. The area leading up to the bridge was rather nondescript and rural, the bridge itself, though sturdy, was becoming a bit shabby, and exiting the bridge on the Carolina Beach side you’d find mostly wooded areas and few structures.

Carolina Beach in 1983 was in the process of being discovered. The narrow strip of land on the north end of town between the canal and the ocean had been a mix of small cottages, small motels and large, older homes.

Suddenly the area changed dramatically as a multitude of condominiums were built along both sides of Carolina Beach Avenue North. The condo building boom continued to a lesser degree a block west on Canal Drive and also south of the Boardwalk and central business district along Carolina Beach Avenue South.

In the central business district next to the Boardwalk, the Royal Palms Hotel was remodeled for $1.5 million and renamed the Hotel Astor. The Boardwalk, very popular with residents and tourists alike since the 1940s and before, was beginning its long, slow decline during the 1980s.

Kure Beach in 1983 was not the locale of luxury homes and condos that it is today. Back from the oceanfront motels and cottages, the small residential area was largely very modest older houses and cottages. Oddly enough, the tiny downtown and the old fishing pier are little changed today, but development is rapidly encroaching.

To the south, the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area was largely undeveloped beach, and the nearby North Carolina Marine Resources Center, now the splendid, multi-million-dollar North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, contained only a few fairly small tanks, with the largest being a 17,000-gallon shark tank.

Where’s Pleasure Island?

So what really is Pleasure Island, and where is it? That might seem like a strange question to pose about a fairly significant land mass right here in the Cape Fear area, but the question often comes up from non-residents.

In reality, the island is the southernmost portion of the Cape Fear peninsula cut off from the rest of the peninsula by a narrow band of water called Snow’s Cut. Pleasure Island is also the location of two towns, Carolina Beach to the north and Kure Beach to the south, along with many attractions and recreational opportunities.

Established in 1857 by Joseph Winner, who bought beachfront property and laid out plans for a town that subsequently became Carolina Beach, the first visitors to Pleasure Island were vacationers brought to the island by boat and then conveyed to the beach by a small steam railroad. Shortly thereafter, a Dane named Hans Anderson Kure founded Kure Beach.

Snow’s Cut Bridge Built

In 1929, Snow’s Cut was dredged to make it part of the Intracoastal Waterway. Pleasure Island was initially connected to the mainland by a small swing bridge, which eventually was replaced by the current high-rise Snow’s Cut Bridge. Carolina Beach developed over the years as the commercial center of the island, a tourism destination and a residential community. Kure Beach evolved as a residential community with relatively little commercial development and limited tourism.

In recent years, both communities have been experiencing enormous development as two of the few places along the coast where reasonably priced land near the ocean is still available. Kure Beach has seen extensive construction of upscale homes and condos while Carolina Beach, spurred by the building of a new oceanfront Courtyard by Marriott resort hotel, is enjoying considerable development of upscale condos and homes plus a number of other projects planned and underway.

The origin of the name, Pleasure Island, is uncertain, but it aptly attests to the wealth of activities and recreational opportunities available on the island for residents and visitors alike. For a while, some of the more conservative residents of the island objected to the name, feeling it negatively implied a hedonistic lifestyle was prevalent here. However, the State of North Carolina shows Pleasure Island on its maps, and the former Carolina Beach/Kure Beach Chamber of Commerce has become the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce, so it appears the name is sticking.